By. Dr. Hema Bannerjee.
Education contributes a lot towards the overall development of a nation. It paves way for eliminating disparity and enhances the quality of life of children. But the question arises, what progress has there been and what are the failures? School education in India has been neglected to a great extent. It has been 5 years since the enactment of Right to Education Act in 2010 but the impact of it has not yet been conspicuous. The same is the case with school education in these islands for stress is not upon providing quality education; whether it is Govt. school or Private School. There is chronic shortage of regular teachers and most of the schools appoint teachers on contract basis at lower salaries.. Introduction of CTET has added to the problem as qualifying CTET is the bench mark for applying for the post of PST and GTT. Availability of qualified CTET candidates is limited.
Private Schools charge exorbitant rates as fees in the name of providing quality education but they have compromised on quality. Those candidates are appointed as teachers in private schools who fail to get selected for regular posts in Govt. Schools. Even if they get good teachers, the teachers leave private schools whenever they get Govt. job.
In most of the rural parts of these islands, absenteeism of students is a common phenomena in schools. Further, the alarming fact is the lack of dedication in teaching and dereliction of duty by certain teachers who hardly bother to go to school in addition to late arrival.
Under Right to Education Act of 2010, the policy of promotion of students upto VIII standard has deteriorated the education system in Toto to such an extent that a student of class VII is not even able to read properly. Most of the students are unable to cope with the standard of Board Examinations as a result they come under immense stress and they tend to adopt the corrupt practice of copying at a large scale. The Act does not discourage the examination system. On the other hand, it does not boost the examination system by its policy of promotion of all upto VIII class which is not a healthy practice.
Lack of accountability on the part of teachers and Principal in schools is the main reason why the parents find difficulties in assessing what their children are learning. Under the CCE pattern, the syllabus are equally divided but because of laxity, teachers are least bothered to complete the syllabus. Therefore, children are left with no other option but to go for tuition. Every parent cannot afford to pay heavy tuition fees especially the poor.
An observation, I would like to highlight is that in schools, focus of attention of the teachers is mainly on children who excel in studies, thereby, they tend to neglect the students who really require special attention.
In addition to the provision of infrastructural facilities in the schools, emphasis should be given on improvement of quality of education which is feasible through proper selection of teachers, fixing the accountability on teachers and the Principal of the school, introduction of standard evaluation pattern to judge the merit of the children.
