Keeping a check on dubious schools : Sacrificing for marks
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 12 2015 -

Maybe it is inopportune.

Maybe it is out of place at this juncture to comment on the state of some dubious schools, particularly when the attention of the people is drawn towards what is happening along the Indo-Myanmar border following the June 4 ambush that left 18 soldiers dead.

However it needs to be kept in mind that addressing the state of education here should not be dictated by time for it concerns the future of the young children as well as the land and people.

With the Class X and Class XII board exams results being declared, the attention of all must be drawn towards the immediate, such as the question of admission of their children and wards for higher studies.

Not many would have given a thought on the plight of the young students who were barred from appearing for the Board exams by the Central Board of Secondary Education on the ground that the schools in which they were enlisted have not been granted recognition.

How this came about is something which only the administrators of the schools and the CBSE can answer but this should be more than enough lesson for the parents, guardians and elders of the land.

That some schools, affiliated to the CBSE, had earned a certain degree of dubiousness down the years is something known to almost everyone.

However this has not deterred a good number of parents and elders from making a beeline for such schools. The selling point is obviously marks.

With some schools getting infamous for ‘helping’ their students during and before the Board exams, it is not surprising to see numerous students and parents rushing to these schools, come admission time.

Perhaps it is only now that the whip was cracked and some schools were shown the doors by the CBSE.

A hue and cry was raised then but the damage had already been done and some students today have to lose a precious academic year.

Marks and more marks. This was the underlying factor for the mad rush for some of these schools.

It is this mindset which is disturbing and unacceptable. Self righteous voices may be raised against the culture of mass copying and cheating in the Class X and Class XII examinations, but no one seems bothered in seeking admission at some of these dubious academic institutions.

Marks this is what parents and elders seem to be more concerned about, forget the knowledge that the young students may gain as students. Typically there was a knee jerk reaction from the State Government.

Instead of taking up fitting action against some of the dubious institutions, the Government preferred to play to the gallery and talked about approaching the CBSE and conducting a special examination for the students who were left out in the cold.

This was absurd and amounted to refusing to take the reality.

It would have made more sense if the Government had thought to imposing stiff penalty on dubious institutions and thought of a plan to keep a check on such institutions.

And there surely must be many more such institutions which managed to escape the scrutiny of the CBSE.

It is about the future of the children and it is only right that parents, the guardians, the schools themselves and the Government come together and think of ways to make the examinations more credible.