Reviving govt schools
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: November 11 2011 -

Chief Minister O Ibobi wondered how private schools can be more successful than government run schools while addressing the newly inducted teachers under the Rastriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).

A very pertinent question waiting to be answered, and the irony is, the individual who is at the moment the most competent person to answer this question, is raising this question.

There is no denying the fact that private run schools over the last many years have streak away way past the government-run schools in terms of enrollment and success rate in the Board Exams.

It is also a fact that the private schools attract the brightest students which would partly explain the good showing of these schools.

But why are the students attracted to this schools or why the parents run from pillar to post to get their wards admitted to private schools in the first place.

The most logical explanation would be that these schools have over the years made their reputation backed by verifiable data as reliable institutes capable of imparting 'quality education'.

But, if take a real hard look at the facts, there is no reason why government schools should lag behind the private run schools.

For any educational institute, be it a school, college or university, the most important asset is the teachers. On this score, the government schools should be much better placed than the private schools, considering the manner and criteria of recruitment of teachers.

All these teachers posses certain qualifications which includes a B.Ed degree and have been appointed after a well laid out process of recruitment. This is not the case with private schools, where most recruitments are made in a very 'private manner' and many of whom do not possess the required qualifications to be a teacher.

On the face of it, since the government schools teachers are more qualified - in most cases at least, and since they are also much better paid than their private schools counter parts, they should be producing much better results.

But it is just the contrary, looking at this state of affairs; we can't fault someone if he or she comes up with a perverse logic that salary of school teachers is inversely proportional to the result they are able to produce.

Several factors have converged to bring the situation to such a sorry state in government schools. It starts right from the recruitment stage where the most qualified among the various aspirants are seldom chosen; there has hardly been any teachers' recruitment in the state which has been free of controversies.

Then once they become teachers there is no accountability, they have a secure job and they need not work to keep it, seems to be the guiding principle. Interference from higher authorities and political bosses has also contributed significantly to the erosion in the quality of government schools.

Those who do their job sincerely instead of getting rewarded are shunted around from one school to the other if he or she is not close to the power that be, whereas someone who has the right connection will not be moved from a convenient posting for a lifetime.

In such a scenario, it is only natural for them to pay more attention to keeping the right persons in good humour than spend their energy on teaching the students sincerely. Whereas, in the case of private schools, if the teachers do not perform they are liable to lose their jobs.

If the government is serious about arresting the rapid decline of government schools, the first thing they should do is to recruit well qualified teachers and secondly they should bring about accountability among the teachers and school administrators.

Also most importantly, the higher officials of the education department and their political bosses should stop their interference in any manner, save to ensure accountability.

The infrastructural needs of the schools, in terms of school buildings, sanitary facilities, laboratories, library, play ground etc should also be addressed. Taking care of all these will go a long way in rebuilding the reputation of government schools.

The implementation of the Right to Education Act and the introduction of the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation should also provide the government schools the much needed impetus to break the stranglehold of the private schools.