Need to look beyond the academics : Instil spirit of competition
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 29, 2022 -

The Sangai Express has already pointed out the factors that could be responsible for the poor showing of students studying in Government schools, though the pass percentage in the recently declared Class X and Class XII examination results recorded a marked improvement with Government schools returning a pass figure of 60 percent in the Class X examinations.

One hopes that this is just the start of the improvement process and the Government is able to give more teeth and substance to its School Fagathanshi Mission.

Focus should be there on the Government schools in the far flung areas, especially in the hill districts where schools are generally plagued by various shortcomings.

Not a comparison but private schools are doing credibly well, but this should not mean that these schools cannot improve.

And for this to happen, one hopes that everybody, the school management, the parents, the elders of family, the students themselves and the State Government need to look at a school beyond its results in the Class X and Class XII examinations.

This is where a better and a more rounded understanding of education is needed.

To come anywhere near to this understanding one will need to shake off the tendency of looking at the performance of a student only through the prism of academic excellence and in the process forgetting to look at his or her overall personality development.

What values does a school impart to the young students is one question that may be raised.

Humility, an inquiring mind, the ability to stand up and stress one's stand on any issue are all qualities which schools can impart on the young minds.

This is besides the role that the family plays in moulding the overall character of a young child.

Right from the kindergarten days it is the school which can have a lasting impact on the minds of the young child.

Have parents ever cared to look or study at the number of students a school pack into a class? How about playfields?

Has any guardian or elders of the family taken a tour of the school campus before admitting their child?

Or if this is not allowed, have parents every made the needed inquiry to ascertain how well laid out is the school campus?

Here one is not talking about the geographical size of the school campus in question, but how well equipped the school campus is.

How about libraries? Are they well stocked? How many books can a student, say a student of Class IX or X borrow at a time and for how many days? How about playgrounds?

These are points which parents and elders of family should consciously raise for it is not for nothing why there is the well known line, 'The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton' or something along this line, clearly demonstrating that character building, leadership, team spirit and the zeal to come out on tops are qualities which can be instilled on the sports ground and not only in the classrooms.

The Sangai Express has already mooted the idea of organising inter-school competition in different sports such as football, basketball, hockey, cricket, athletics etc.

Each academic year can be divided into football season, hockey season, athletics season etc and it is such interschool competition which can promote a sense of belongingness and a sense of competition amongst the students.

Other than this there could be inter-school debate, dramatics and elocution contest and such competitions should not be one off affair, but included in the academic year of a school.

Hope the managements of different private schools give some thought to this instead of offering freebies to attract the top performers in the annual examinations !

A sense of healthy competition and instilling a sense of belongingness and such steps can help make a student progress beyond academics.