Hisar, April 11
Private recognised schools in Haryana show better results in board examinations? This is how they do it. Their students skip the course for the classes for which examinations are conducted by the schools themselves and instead spend two years preparing for the class for which the Board of School Education holds the examinations. These are classes V, VIII, X and plus two.
Inquiries by The Tribune reveal on passing classes III, VI, VIII and X, private school students are given books for classes V, VIII, X and plus two, respectively. They do not appear for the final examinations for classes IV, VII, IX and plus one. For the record, they are shown to have passed the school examinations for these classes and “fictitious returns” are filed with the education board. Thus they get two years to prepare for the board examinations compared to one year in the case of students of government schools.
Private school students are not asked to buy textbooks prescribed by the education board. Instead, they have to buy guides published by private publishers from the school itself. The schools get a hefty commission from the publishers of these guides, which are shunned by the State’s universities and the education board.
In the case of classes for which examinations are conducted by the private schools themselves, students are prescribed books published from Jalandhar, Meerut and Agra instead of those prescribed by the board. They do not conform to the syllabi prescribed for these classes.
Since, the education board has no role in the examinations for these classes, the private schools get away with teaching something other than what the board has prescribed. Despite a major breach of conditions governing their recognition, the private schools have been managing to hoodwink the board.
Popular guides were available, until a few years ago, in the market at 25 to 30 per cent rebate on their published prices because of stiff competition. However, no bookseller now offers rebate to the students since the publishers have reportedly tied up with the school managements directly. The books are sold to the students by the school at the published prices.
Several private school heads admitted to these facts but said on condition of anonymity that they were doing so in the interest of the students. They said private schools generally exercised “caution“ while admitting students and thus attracted brighter children who could cope with the syllabi for a higher class. They also get an additional year to prepare for the examination. The principal of a leading private school here said: “What can we do? Our business depends on the results, and the means do not matter. Parents too want their children to score more because that’s how the system works.
Some of the parents said they were aware of this practice and it worked satisfactorily. One of them said: Its fine with me. Why waste a year studying for an examination of no consequence. It is better to utilise this time for an examination in which your score will matter all your life”.
Senior schoolteachers, however, decried this practice They want the board to conduct all examinations from class V onwards. Teachers of government schools said such malpractices were the main reason why their schools continued to be reflected in poor light. Since their records were scrutinised, they could not adopt such means to show better results.
