Rakesh Kumar Pandit
The Jammu and Kashmir School Education (Amendment) Act-2013 for right to free and compulsory education upto class 8th is a welcome and bold step in reforming and streamlining the elementary education system of our state. The elementary education in our state particularly in rural areas needs such initiatives to set it on the right track. The draft policy has specified the role and active participation of the government, local authorities, schools, parents, civil society and teachers. Besides other provisions of the Act, the constitution of village and local area education committees, school management committees to monitor the working of the schools in their respective areas is a novel idea. But the matter of the fact is that, are these provisions and some other provisions in it practically feasible to implement or will they remain on paper only, because it is good to be an optimist but better to be a realist.
From time to time the central as well as state government has brought reforms by launching new schemes for the education sector but did they provide the desired and fruitful results, is a million dollar question. In the last decade the SSA campaign has been successful to increase the enrolment of the children for elementary education but in rural areas the problem of illiteracy has turned in to a new dimension. The children are being promoted from class first to 8th and even upto 10th without proper teaching and evaluation and as a result a large percentage of the children cannot even write their name and parentage in a proper way. So if a child after passing class 8th cannot even write his name, is he/she literate or illiterate, and where the fault lies then. Mere statistics will not serve the purpose and this is against the spirit of each and every educational policy. It is important to frame policies, amend existing ones, but more important is to have a solid implementation plan and it is the duty of every stakeholder to lend a helping hand but the duty of the government is utmost. Moreover the government schools are plagued severely by lack of infrastructure in terms of classrooms, blackboards, desks, library, laboratory, drinking water, toilets and whatnot. It is a fact now that majority of the children in the government schools are from economically poor background. The government is appointing teachers every year now, but when the adjustment of these newly recruited teachers comes, there starts the whole drama of nexus of the influential and the school education authorities and as a result the needy and poor children are left high and dry. Same drama gets repeated on the adjustment of promotees. There are some schools where number of teachers is more than the students and some schools are without teachers or a single teacher is managing the whole school. So there is a dying need of a transparent transfer policy for the employees and a strong will of the government to implement it. Now-a-days it is free for all as regarding transfers and adjustments of teaching staff. More you pay more you will be at the place of choice and as a result the honest and dedicated teachers suffer and are getting demoralized. All the people who are at the helm of affairs in the school education department from administrators to the teachers needs serious introspection that is why parents prefer less qualified or even untrained staff of the private schools over qualified and trained staff of every government school even if there is financial strain for the parents. Also the menace of mass copying in the government schools mostly in rural areas is making the future of the students uncertain and left them completely dependent and handicapped. The irony is that it is happening with connivance of the examination staff and with the full knowledge of the local board authorities. This menace will erode the spirit of each and every remedial policy which the government wishes to bring because good teaching and effective evaluation is the back bone of any educational policy. Something serious needs to be done regarding this, otherwise only parasites will be produced out of such system. Here our state educational setup needs to learn something from the central schools which are also working in rural areas with a missionary zeal to empower the future generations. The matter of the fact is that the staff working there are even from different parts of the country, working as per set guidelines, which they implement in letter and spirit and produce remarkable results. Further the new pay policy of the Government will add salt to the injury. The meager wages for the first five years will make the highly educated candidates de-motivated and hamper their performance which will in turn adversely affect the education system of the state.
So if the Government wishes to bring any policy in future, it must include such provisions which will make the elementary education very interesting like learning by doing or learning by self experiences, changes in stereotype curriculums, promotes scientific outlook, establishes balance between material and spiritual values and should not ignore any aspect of human development because education is not mere literacy. Moreover the continuous feedback should be taken from the teachers because it is teachers who have to implement each and every policy at the gross-root level and the changes if required could be made. The system should also be supportive to the teachers and only teachers should not be made scapegoats for poor results because sometimes it becomes difficult even for an honest and dedicated teacher to perform due to faulty system, lack of basic facilities in government schools. Above all a teacher must possess knowledge, skill, strong character, patriotism and special training. A teacher must act as friend, philosopher and guide to the children, educate them and to make them able to contribute to the development of the nation. Mahatma Gandhi has said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Keeping this in mind, it is the duty of the government, civil society, teachers and all those concerned to make a sincere effort to root out corruption which is eating the spirit and vitals of each and every effort in the direction of improvement and also be ready to come out of our comfort zones so that the future of our generations and country could be harnessed.
Above all we must also keep in mind the real aim of education and in the words of Swami Vivekananda, ”The Education which does not help the common mass of the people to equip themselves for the struggle of life, which does not bring out the strength of character, spirit of philanthropy, and the courage of a Lion- is it worth the name? Real education is that which enables one to stand on one’s own legs.”
(The author is Assistant Professor of Physics at GDC- Bhaderwah)
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