Flop again !
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: 23rd May, 2008 -

Except for some improvement in the pass percentage as compared to the last few years, the HSLC Exam result declared today reflects the same old story.

As in the previous years, not a single student reading in Government schools could make it to the list of top 25 position holders. Going by the performance of these Government run schools in the last many years, it would not be a flimsy imagination that there might be many schools with zero pass percentage.

On the other side of this gloomy picture is the promising debut made by many newly established private schools in the merit lists as can be observed in this year’s result sheet.

Relatively speaking, it was in the remote past when there were few private schools that Government schools could make it to the toppers’ list.

It has been many years now since mission schools have made the merit lists their own domain year after year excluding all the Government schools except for very few ones, that too in between gaps of several years.

Romen Chongtham; Sanasam Sangita; Chetanbala Hijam

If one makes a comparative study of the performances of Government schools and private schools taking into account of the huge investment being made in Government schools and the relatively modest salaries being paid to private school teachers, one may safely conclude that crores of rupees are being invested in a highly unproductive sector every year.

If the present sorry state of affairs continues to plague Government schools in the coming years, it is as certain as dead for these Government schools to die a natural death for lack of students in not so distant future.

But those at the helm of affairs would not want these schools to close up. Already notorious for malpractices and corrupt activities, the Department of Education (Schools) would want to sustain these schools just to continue their shady earnings.

If a debate is initiated on the pitiable performance of Government schools, many would come up with different observations and several possible reasons.

One may say that bright students are naturally sent to private schools whereas students reading in Government schools are by and large neglected by their parents. One may even contend that Government schools lack proper building and infrastructure.

Even though these observations are not incorrect, they cannot account for the failure of Government schools exclusively. For instance, a Government school student topped the Class XII Council examination declared recently even though most of the top 20 positions were secured by private school students.

Juxtaposing these two contrasting facts, we can only say that somewhere something is seriously wrong vis-a-vis the current education system.

Rather than pointing the accusing finger to teachers and parents, it’s high time for the educationists, scholars and social scientists of the State to diagnose the sick education system and take up corrective measures accordingly before it is too late.

In fact, time is running out for the Government, Government school teachers and parents to study the problem together so as to initiate necessary measures at the earliest.

It would be more prudent to take up some concrete measures so that Government school students can make it to the merit list at least once in every two/three years, if not every year.

Criticism and blame-game could not set things right. It’s time to shoulder collective responsibility sincerely with a firm determination to rejuvenate the ailing education system and the dying Government schools.

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