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March 7, 2005 February 28, 2005 February 21, 2005 February 14, 2005 February 7, 2005 January 31, 2005 January 24, 2005 January 17, 2005 January 10, 2005 January 3, 2005 December 27, 2004 December 20, 2004 December 13, 2004 December 6, 2004

NEWS AND VIEWS

PUNJAB

HARYANA

JAMMU & KASHMIR

HIMACHAL

REGIONAL BRIEFS

NATION

OPINIONS

MAILBAG

BUSINESS

SPORTS

WORLD

SPECIAL COVERAGE

CHANDIGARH

LUDHIANA

DELHI

Improve selection of teachers

To promote school education, the state governments should first chalk out uniform syllabi for all classes to provide students with quality education and then teachers should be appointed on the basis of not only merit, but also their ability to establish a quick rapport with students. Only experienced professionals should conduct the interviews for appointing teachers in schools. We'd love to see an advisory board in each school for conveying all problems to the respective state governments. The board should equally hear students as well as their teachers on these problems. It should be checked whether or not the various grants coming from the state governments to promote school education are properly utilised.

— SANJAY CHAWLA, Amritsar

Remove staff shortage

The first and foremost problem in schools is shortage of good teachers, for which multi-skilled teachers can be hired on ad-hoc basis. School administrations should hire only those teachers who have the B.Ed degree. The state government should release textbooks at the right time and keep the prices of the books down. Infrastructure also needs proper attention. Studies should be more on practical than theoretical lines and the state government could raise proper laboratories and study material for this purpose. Checks on unauthorised schools and teaching shops is a must.

— ANCHAL KUNDRA, Ambala Cantonment

Run buses for village students Massive and quality education is a must and the state governments can achieve this objective by opening a public school in every village. Where there is only one school for three or more villages, the government should introduce a free school bus service. Every school has to have a modern building with spacious playgrounds, library, computers and the Internet. All teachers should be full-time employees and, on retirement, should be replaced by new teachers without delay. Private schools should also be provided with reasonable financial aid, so that students who come from middle-class families could have easy access to these schools, which would also prevent overcrowding of public and government schools. If we could ensure that students who come from extremely poor families are adequately fed and dressed, we'd have done well. A fair system of employment will attract a bigger number of youth towards education. — Dr KRISHAN K. KHULLAR, On e-mail

Poor kids need special care

The school education system needs to be restructured, as the conventional system hasn't improved our situation even though there are all kinds of schools-government, govt-aided and private.

Although a government schoolteacher is paid the maximum and private teachers get virtually nothing, the quality of teaching is much better in private schools, which is a bitter reality. State governments should check exploitation of the faculty in private schools by bringing in new laws and also raise the standard of teaching in government schools. In the garb of educational institutions, private teaching shops are mushrooming around the country.

Education is a tax-free "business", but why is the government not making it mandatory for these private schools to admit students from economically backward families? Many other measures can be taken to help poor kids, who can't pay exorbitant fees to enter school.

— Prof H. S. DIMPLE, Barnala

Get teachers to work in remote areas

The development of our education sector has not been satisfactory. Many remote areas in states do not even have elementary schools, so basic education is not reaching village children. The condition of government schools is pitiable and there's an urgent need to fill thousands of vacancies for teacher.

Teachers are supposed to no only teach, but also do election duty, census duty and data collection for preparing voters' lists, while they should concentrate wholly on teaching.

The state should stop commercialisation of the education system, allocate proper funds for schools and make education job-oriented. For this, more vocational-education institutions should be established in all states.

— ARUN SINGLA, Cheeka (Kaithal)

Make schools look attractive

For revamping the education system, we need a radical approach and no patchwork solution. For a start, besides education, schools also have to be made to look attractive. Physical infrastructure is the first thing we need; for ideas, we could look at the infrastructure in some of the privately run schools.

There should be some logic at least for including a subject in the curriculum. If there is no compromise on the quality of teachers and teaching, and the system of transfers of teachers is done away with, it would go a long way in enhancing their commitment to work.

There has to be discipline in all spheres in which schools function. Even though the task looks daunting, the challenge is worth taking up.

— Dr B. R. SOOD, Padhiana (Jalandhar)

Cut vacations, pay teachers suitably

Qualified staff is what our schools need. Teachers should be posted keeping in view the number of students in schools. While a ban on private tuitions is necessary, it will be good if we also implement the transfer policy in a right way and give opportunities for promotion to every teacher.

Examinations should be result oriented and teachers should be held directly responsible for poor performance of students, but teachers with excellent record should be given incentives at the same time. If the period of school vacations is reduced, it will add more teaching hours to the academic year.

Teachers should be paid suitably. As the government teachers are paid better than their counterparts in private schools, they should be compelled to improve their results. Teachers should never be used for any other work, besides teaching.

— Dr DARSHAN SINGH, Sirsa

Make courses job-oriented

School education should include trade education, business education and computers education. Plain theoretical study is an outdated idea; today you can't think of basic education that does not teach you about running your business or improving your life. The state government will do well, if it introduces business subjects to go with theoretical studies. Children, thus, will grow into toughened adults, who can perform business and other jobs much more efficiently than now. More language subjects should be introduced for each class, maybe even after primary education. Jobs-oriented studies will stop the mad rush of our students to foreign schools and universities.

— K. S. THIND, Ajnala

II

Mother gives birth, while education makes it worth. The present system of education has lost its direction, but education is still worthwhile. The Centre should set a minimum standard for education to be followed by all states.

Indian states are predominantly rural and education there cannot improve without taking into account the rural environment. School education should be free and compulsory, but steps should also be taken to make it job oriented. If education does not minimise the gap between India and Bharat, it is not worthwhile

My idea of a modern school is the one that has laboratories, libraries, a small stadium, clean drinking water and modern toilets. Of course, studies have to be great, too. The ideal school will uphold the moral values, lessen stress and make children more confident. Due to poverty, most students can study up to high school only, so they should get an education that opens up more job opportunities for them.

— MOHINDER PAUL PAHUJA, Sangrur

Reduce examination stress

The state governments should bring their schools on a par with public schools in terms of infrastructure, education, modern outlook and commitment shown by the faculty. A huge amount of money needs to be spent on repairing school buildings. Books and uniforms going free to students up to eighth standard will draw poor children towards education.

The state governments can accomplish this by giving money to panchayats and local bodies to look after schools in their areas.

Two steps by the Union Government will re-invent education system in India. First, it should diversify courses taught from ninth standard onwards to make education interesting and cut the weight of school bags. The second big task for it is to do away with this stressful system of examinations. Instead, entrance tests should be introduced in steps at relevant stages.

— ATUL SHARMA, Chail (HP)

Teachers are not chefs

The government's goal of Bharat Nirman can be achieved only if every child in the country gets quality education. There is already a heavy thrust upon the planners to achieve this target. Funds scarcity should not be allowed to come in the way of this goal. This year's Budget has allocated more funds than ever for the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan; now everything hinges upon its implementation, which at present can be best described as haphazard.

Be it the Mid-day Meal Scheme or the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, it is the teacher who is assigned the job of implementation. After 30-35 years of service, the JBT teachers have been designated JBT head teachers, who have neither the infrastructure nor the training to work on these projects, which, among other things, require them to work as construction experts, financial wizards and even chefs. So when it comes to teaching, the schools are understaffed. State government should lessen their burden, not increase it.

Put additional teachers in schools and hire engineers and the other qualified persons for supervising construction and cooking.

— SUSHIL KUMAR GUPTA, Kushinagar (Nurpur)

Ensure safety of schoolgirls

Girls feel insecure in schools and even while going there or coming home, so you can't expect more parents to send their daughters for studying. Also, a typical Indian family environment does not allow a girl child to grow to her full potential. This lack of exposure is suppressing their talents. It's education alone that has now enabled some women to raise their voice against dowry.

The present school education is doing nothing, besides adding to stress and the number of the unemployed. Job-oriented courses can make schooling worthwhile. Safety of girl students is indeed a big issue.

— PARTAP SINGH, Kainthan (Dasuya)

Make primary education compulsory

Being educated, we can easily know right from wrong, but an uneducated person cannot. Only educated persons can bring progress to this country, so the state governments should make education compulsory for all children, be it boys or girls, and open more schools for quality education.

Children from families of the poor should be given free or cheaper education, besides free books and clothes. In rural areas, awareness campaigns should be launched so that parents are encouraged to send their children to school.

Though, the government is running the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, there is still a lot to be done. Compulsory education should not just be a rule; its enactment should validate its purpose.

— ALKA MINHAS, Dehra Dun (UA)

Exams should not test memory alone

To promote school education, a state government should concentrate on improving basic infrastructure and studies, and opening schools that all of us could attend. Free transportation to students will promote school education in a big way. Education's aims, objectives, curriculum, methodology and evaluation must meet individual and social needs. Teachers should be more creative and sufficient in number.

Assigning non-teaching work to teachers kills the teacher in them. Liberate education from the shackles of bureaucracy that never allows independent thinking. Involve students, teachers, parents and community in improving education.

The rigid external system of examination should be replaced with "evaluation" that does not rely on memory alone, but also measures all other aspects of personality.

Mid-day meal and other welfare schemes should continue and school education should be free. Evolve norms for private schools and encourage fundamental research.

— SUDESH KUMAR SHARMA, Kapurthala

Textbooks should be accurate

The foremost task before the state government is to build well-equipped and well-staffed schools in every village and town. The other important work is selecting efficient, confident, multi-faceted and child-loving teachers who can make children take interest in studies. The state governments should realize that it is their responsibility to make schoolbooks more interesting and accurate. The government has never given a sizeable grant for school education.

— JYOTI BATURA, Chandigarh

Education should deliver

If we assume literates to be a better human resource, this overpopulated country has just 46 per cent of it. Our Constitution has given us the right to education, making it a responsibility of the states to give free and compulsory education to children between the age of 6 and 14. Article 32 says that we can even move court, if the government fails to ensure this, but the situation asks us to be more practical.

States can begin by banning private tuitions and building new and competitive schools. Educating slum children is necessary, but it will be a waste if schooling doesn't prepare them for the jobs ahead. States should continue scholarships for the needy and deserving students, and take serious steps to educate girls. If education ensures better prospects, it will naturally become popular. A reasonable fee structure and the right student-teacher ratio will only help the cause.

— SMITA GUPTA, Panchkula

Take feedback from students

It is shocking to observe that the state governments have failed to discharge their duties sincerely. The pitiable condition of primary schools opened by the state governments is all well known. There are no teachers or basic infrastructure. Principals should be made accountable for forwarding the requests of schoolchildren to the authorities concerned, because, so far, this is one channel of feedback that hasn't been explored. Incentives and rewards may be given to individuals who work for the betterment of schools.

— SUBASH C. TANEJA, Rohtak

Pay teachers on time

In Punjab, there are 28,000 teaching vacancies in government schools. How can we expect good results? Timely payment of incentives to the Scheduled Caste and Backward Class students should be ensured. In schools, salaries of the staff are irregular. At times, teachers are not paid for even six months or more, and we expect good results from them. Political interference should stop while selecting teachers. In cities, there are surplus posts of teacher, while no teacher wants to serve in villages. There should be a regular inspection of all schools.

— RAKESH NARULA, Bathinda