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| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
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Crisis of quality in govt schools
Schools must do better to engage children, warns Ofsted |
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Crisis of quality in govt schools
EDUCATION has been accorded a fair amount of importance in the policy initiatives of the state of Punjab. Over the years, a vast network of schools and institutions of education have been set up. Punjab is considered to be one of those states in the country whose school infrastructure is reasonably good. In fact, as per the Educational Development Index (EDI) 2011 prepared by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), Punjab is at the top in infrastructural parameters in the country followed by Pondicherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. But why is that the overall educational scenario of the government schools in the state is not very inspiring? Why is that the state still remains in the middle of all the Indian states and Union Territories with regard to the literacy rates? The answer is simple. There is a quality crisis in government schools which leads to the flight of students to the private schools as private schools are providing better education to the children. The belief that the availability of the basic things like classrooms, toilets, drinking water, etc., in government schools would improve the quality of school education is only far fetched. No doubt, infrastructure is important, but what is being talked about is the most basic. The school infrastructure in government schools is far less than the minimum in private schools. The institutional facilities at private schools and government schools are no match for each other. Secondly, the idea of community participation for school improvement through Village Education Committees as envisioned in the National Policy of Education is yet to show the expected results. Among the community members, there is a general lack of interest in the governance of government schools. The much-anticipated synergic relationship between the community and the school stakeholders has not been able to create a sense of ownership and commitment among the community people. In this scenario, what is the way out? The answer lies in bringing some radical changes in the school apparatus in terms of ownership and parity to that of private schools. The existing schemes like the Mid-Day Meals, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan are unlikely to yield much in terms of quality of education unless the school education system is completely overhauled. One of the paradigm shifts from the conventional system of school ownership by the government to the involvement of public-private partnerships can probably resolve this crisis situation. The government should delegate its delivery functions to private parties, including the appointment of teachers and their service conditions while it should keep a tab on the fee structures and admissions, so that the poor are not exploited. The government should play the role of enabler and facilitator while the private sector can contribute optimising management practises. The public-private partnerships models that exist in many other developing countries have been quite successful. A few experiments carried out in India too have shown good results. The public-private partnerships model provides a viable alternative to ease out the government of the budgetary constraints and for improving efficiency and accountability of the school staff. The public-private partnership reduces the cost on education due to competition among the private partners. It can be very cost-effective for ensuring quality school education, provided necessary modulations are done as per the context-specific
requirements.
The writer is Professor and Head, Department of Social Work, Punjabi University, Patiala |
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Schools must do better to engage children, warns Ofsted Teaching in hundreds of secondary schools is too dull, prompting concerns bored pupils behave worse, the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), UK, warned. The education standards watchdog voiced “serious concern” that teaching standards were “no more than satisfactory” in four out of ten schools nationwide. “Satisfactory teaching does not deliver good enough progress for pupils in the most challenging circumstances,” warned chief schools inspector Miriam Rosen as she delivered her annual report. It warned of a link between weak teaching and poor behaviour with disruption more likely to take place when pupils failed to be engaged by lessons. The Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, agreed: “It’s common sense that where teaching doesn’t engage pupils — they can lose attention and disrupt the class.” The report also highlighted that pupils from the poorest communities were four times more likely to be taught in inadequate schools than those from well-off backgrounds. In all, only 48 per cent of schools in deprived areas were ranked as good or better, compared with 71 per cent in more affluent areas. “It is a constant concern that those very children and young people who most need the best services are often those being let down,” said Rosen. The report, Ofsted added, had “stark findings on services for the most vulnerable children”. Nearly one in five local authorities inspected for the way they took care of vulnerable children were found to be “inadequate”, placing pupils at risk of abuse or neglect. In addition, too many children were waiting too long for adoption. The report also concluded that too many schools were “coasting” — nearly 800 schools reinspected this year were still not good enough, having failed to improve on a satisfactory rating in their last inspection. In addition, 40 per cent of those rated outstanding in their last inspection had declined — with three having slipped to inadequate and 11 now rated as satisfactory. This finding questions the decision by the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, to spare schools ranked as outstanding from further inspection unless there are warning signs of deterioration. “It is of great concern to see the high numbers of schools, colleges and childcare providers that are consistently delivering services to children and young people that are no better than satisfactory,” said Rosen. The report described them as stubbornly “stuck” at a satisfactory level. “Parents aspire to go to a school that’s better than satisfactory,” Rosen added. Even in schools that were judged to have above average or high exam results, there were concerns. “The key factor in many of these schools was that there was a level of complacency about the standards attained by pupils who were not achieving their potential,” the report said. That brought inspectors back to the standards of teaching again. The report cited a survey of 100 secondary schools which revealed more than one in three suffered from dull teaching. “Inspections also identified weaknesses in these schools in applying behaviour policies consistently,” it added.
— The Independent |
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CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar A three-day book exhibition was organised at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University recently. Nine popular book distributors from India displayed their publications in the exhibition organised by Nehru Library of the university. The Vice-Chancellor, Dr K.S. Khokhar, while inaugurating the exhibition said despite the emergence of e-books and online reading portals, books had retained their popularity. However, he said the youth were losing interest in reading books. Khokhar said the youth must treat books as their best friends. Dr R.S. Waldia, Librarian, said holding book exhibitions was regular feature of Nehru Library. He said thousands of books by Indian and foreign authors published recently in the areas of agriculture, veterinary, home science, basic science and engineering were displayed in the exhibition. Besides books on literature, arts, general knowledge were also displayed in the exhibition. Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary
and Animal Sciences, Hisar The Indian Council of Agricultural Research's Centre of Advanced Faculty Training (CAFT) recently organised the "24th Course on Molecular and Cellular Immunological Techniques for Animal Health" at the Department of Veterinary Microbiology of Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences. Eleven participants hailing from various parts of the country completed the 21-day course. Speaking at the concluding function, the chief guest, Dr S.C. Arya, Dean of Postgraduate Studies of Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, said the course provided opportunities to all the trainees for hands-on training on advanced technologies. Terming immunology as a basic science, Dr Arya said advanced cell and molecular and cellular immunological techniques learnt during the course could help diagnosing infectious diseases of animals quickly and more reliably. Dr R.S. Khokhar, Director of Extension Education of the university, emphasised that animal husbandry extension services for the benefit of livestock owners could be improved by adopting a three-pronged strategy, in which clinical services, disease diagnosis and enhanced livestock productivity consultancy should be offered under one roof through zonal centres. Community radio stations
The university has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Broadcast Engineering Consultant India Ltd. (BECI), a Government of India undertaking, for setting up its six new Community Radio Stations (CRSs) in the state. The MoU was signed by the HAU Director of Extension Education, Dr J.S. Dhankhar, and BECI's Deputy General Manager, Abhay Gupta. According to Dhankhar, the CRSs were being set up under the "ATMA" and Rashtrya Krishi Vikas schemes of the Government of India and a grant of Rs 1.5 crore had been sanctioned by the Haryana government for this purpose. He said work on the CRSs would begin soon and these would start broadcasting programmes on agriculture and allied areas within a year. These stations would be located at Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat, Jind and Rohtak.
MoU on meat and poultry
The university has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Meat and Poultry Processing Board (NMPPB) for three years. Dr S.M. Chahal, Director of Research, signed the MoU on behalf of the university in the presence of the Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Dr Charan Das Mahant. As per the MoU, the university and the NMPPB will work together to boost the meat and poultry industry in the country. The university will provide technical assistance to the Board for overall development of meat industry, including meat and poultry processing, and the Board will provide financial assistance to promote research, human resource development and capacity-building
programmes. — Contributed by Raman Mohan
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