Performance of Government schools : Need to note the reality
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 28, 2022 -

Chief Minister N Biren has reasons to feel upbeat and obviously this could be much more than a mere coincidence.

Just four years after the much tom tommed School Fagathanshi Mission (SFM, Let's Improve Schools Mission) was launched, the performance of students studying in Government schools has seen a marked improvement.

At least the BJP led Government at Imphal would like to see the connect between the SFM and the marked improvement in the performance of Government schools in this year's HSLC and HSSLC examinations conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur and the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur.

The Government could be right for as the Chief Minister said Government schools this year recorded a pass percentage of over 60 percent overall in the HSLC exams and for a State which has been witnessing Government schools dishing out pathetic performance in Class X year after year, this is a marked improvement and all must acknowledge this.

Many have commented and come out strongly against the continuous poor show of Government schools at the Class X and Class XII exams conducted annually, but it would do well for everyone to look deeper into the matter.

As a dedicated teacher, who has been going out of his way to make learning enjoyable for the school children put it on his status on Facebook some time back, many students at Government schools also chip in with whatever they can to the family's kitty. Some work as masons (mistries or jugalis), some as carpenters, some as labourers in any field, some tend to the rice fields etc.

In short they contribute to the family's kitty and expecting them to excel in the Class X or Class XII exams would be missing the reality.

'Opinion makers' or the suited, booted class of society may scoff, sneer and question why Government schools have been performing so poorly down the years, but take the factors that have been mentioned here and one can have a more rounded look at the grim reality.

It is more or less the same with some college going students, who by circumstances have to opt for institutions which may not take particular interest in the attendance of the students.

Mind you many of these students are out there working at construction sites, out in the open tilling the fields just so that they can financially help the family.

This is not in defence of the pathetic performance of Government schools down the years, but the reality has to be taken into account.

Obviously children of well to do parents who can afford to send them to private institutions not only in Manipur but also outside where classrooms and the hostel rooms are fitted with Air Conditioners can be expected to do better than those who have to go out everyday to contribute to the family's kitty.

This is a fact that everyone should acknowledge and this is where the merit of 60 percent of students from Government schools cracking the HSLC examinations should be noted.

Here again it is worth asking how many of the suited, booted political leaders of the place actually send their children to Government schools ?

Makes no sense in only pointing fingers at teachers of Government schools who send their children to private institutions.

No doubt 60 percent is notable, an improvement but the Government would need to do more.

Remember it was only at the initiative of an outlawed group that the culture of mass copying during the Class X and Class XII examinations saw a sharp drop.

There is a lesson to be learnt here and to be brutally frank the mentality that anyone can and should cheat in exams to pass should be looked beyond the annual rituals called examinations but entail the moral fabric of society where anything goes as long as one's immediate purpose is served.

This is how one should look at education and perhaps the Government should take the lead in this.

Why not a Look Inward Mission along with FGM and for starters stop comparing Government schools with private schools.