Poor showing from bad to worst
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: May 21, 2014 -

In comparison to the performance of private or mission schools, poor showing of educational institutions under the administration of State Government in examinations, be it High School Leaving Certificate Examination (HSLCE) conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur (BSEM) or Higher Secondary Examination (HSE) conducted by the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur (COHSEM) is a well-known fact to all of us.

Every year, after the declaration of examination results, one question that unfailingly comes up in the mind of the people is why the Government teachers, who are supposed to be more experienced and better paid, have not been able to put in the kind efforts and dedication shown by their counterparts in private schools, who are poorly paid and at the same time may not be well experienced.

But the matter rest there with no answer or solution, until the next examination and declaration of the results.

This has been the norm rather than an exception in Manipur even though everyone, including the Minister in charge of the Education and officials related to the School Education Department, is good at giving long speeches during various seminars and workshops conducted for improving the quality of education in the Government schools.

While the debate over the poor showing of Government schools in examinations remains unresolved year after year, another disturbing trend that has slowly caught up in Manipur is the continued failure of many Government schools to produce even a single student who could pass the examination.

From the analysis of the results of the recently declared results of the High School Leaving Certificate Examination-2014, it is really disheartening to the know that as many as 48 Government schools and 13 Government-Aided Schools have recorded zero pass percentage.

This is many notches up from the equally disheartening poor showing of the Government schools and Government-Aided schools in last year’s HSLC examination, where the number of Government schools that drew black in the results was 28 while that of Government-Aided schools was 11.

In addition to these schools which could not produce even a single student who could clear the examination, there are also 21 Government schools and 7 Government-Aided schools which have only one student each who passed the examination this time.

Now, the question is when many of the Government schools are as good as non-existence when it comes to performance in examination, why they are still allow to be in operation to bring bad name to the State Government and its Education Department?

What is the whole point of providing fund under various Centrally sponsored schemes for development for education to such ‘ghost schools’ whose poor showing in the examination is going only from bad to worst?

Or, is it yet another confirmation that all these Centrally sponsored schemes and fund provided are simply for the conveniences of teachers and officials in charge of education in the State and nothing to do with education of the children who are going to become the future pillars of the society? Whichever way one looks, it is all so depressing.