M A I N   N E W S

BACK BENCHERS — 1
Poor results in border belt
Schools without heads; teachers absent
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 23
Reports of large-scale mass copying notwithstanding, the poor result of plus-two in the district, especially in schools close to the zero line, has once again exposed the pitiable standard of education in the border belt.

The result of Government Senior Secondary School, Tarsikka, has come as a rude shock to parents and the gram panchayat. Out of 22 students, who appeared in the plus-two (commerce) examination only one got through. Fifteen students failed and six got compartment. Similarly, the poor performance of Government Senior Secondary Schools of Gaggo Mahal, Patti, Ekalgadda Khalchian, Sathiala, Valtoha, Vichhoa, Naushehra Pannuan, Jabbowal and Dhardeo Buttar have exposed the tall claims of the state government that special attention is being given to promote education in the border belt.

The poor result is attributed to absenteeism among teachers and lack of staff in the rural areas. It is a matter of record that the teachers hardly go to school. They have adopted a novel way of hoodwinking the authorities. They (the teachers) have ‘appointed’ ‘sub-teachers’ against meagre payment. The unauthorised appointments on ‘verbal’ orders had come to light during the vigilance raids recently. Some of the schools have been found to be ‘sick units’ during a preliminary survey conducted by the Education Department.

The result of Government Senior Secondary School, Gaggo Mahal, is much below average. Out of 39 students who appeared for plus-two (science) examination only nine got through. According to the records available in the District Education Office (Secondary), the post of physics lecturer remained vacant and was filled in the middle of the session. Interestingly 28 students got compartment in physics. In Government Senior Secondary School, Ekalgadda, 10 out of 30 students could clear their examination. The result of Khalchian was less than 50 per cent — 30 out of 61 students could pass. The result of Mehta Nangal is far from satisfactory. Out of 73 students only 26 could clear the examination. One of the worst results was from Government Senior Secondary School (boys) where only three out of 26 students passed the plus-two examination. The following are the results of the other schools: Sathiala (out of 19, only nine passed), Tarn Taran: (28 out of 62 got through), Vichhoa : (27 out of 55 passed) and Naushehra Pannuan (only one student was declared passed).

Mr Dalip Singh Sandhu, District Education Officer (Secondary), said he had sought explanation from the heads of schools which showed poor results.

The basic reason for the poor result is that many schools in the border district are headless as most of the head masters, principals and teachers got themselves transferred to urban areas by using political pressure. As per information available with The Tribune in 140 schools, 95 posts of principal and 83 posts of Head Master are lying vacant.

After talking to a cross section of panchayats, it was evident that the teachers who remained absent during the academic session relied on mass copying to show better results. This was evident from the fact that the then District Education Officer (Secondary), Mr Gurpartap Singh Guri, was placed under suspension following reports of mass copying. However, the various associations of teachers put the blame on the state government for misutilising the service of teachers in conducting surveys, census etc apart from putting them on poll duties.