January 6: Latur's toppers-churning machine is arriving in Mumbai - its called simply the Latur Pattern.With only 70 days left for the commencement of HSC/SSC board examinations, an enterprising Aurangabad-based coaching institute has decided to sell the mystique of Latur Pattern of studies to Mumbai students. The Eklavya Prakashan's `Eklavya Self-Study Programme', supposedly based on the 13-year-old Latur pattern, is being aggressively marketed in the state. In Mumbai though, only 500 candidates will be enrolled. The result is guaranteed - ``a rain of marks instead of rockets on the battlefield of today's Mahabharata of exams,'' says an advertisement plugging the programme. Their success formula is simple - ``an in-depth persecution (sic) of the Latur Pattern,'' the copy adds.The brain behind Eklavya Prakashan, Sundar Latpate, who is also the editor of an exam-oriented magazine called Matric Notes, says: ``The Latur pattern of studies is not a miracle or magic, it is simply continuous and systematic practice of solving model question papers for at least four months prior to the Board examinations. This is what we have recently introduced in the city.'' When asked whether the so-called Latur pattern was simply a cramming exercise, Latpate said: ``Our examination system is such that good memory plays a vital role in it. We train students to answer questions in the precise point-by-point manner as expected by the examiner; this is where our model papers come to use.''Senior educationists, however, said the Latur Pattern is just a tool to gain temporary advantage. Professor J N Shah of VJTI at Matunga is against such mechanical teaching techniques: ``Latur pattern is an outcome of our excessive obsession with the present system of examination, resulting in total dedication to technique rather than learning a subject. This leads to students being totally unprepared for higher education and more so for real life,'' he said, adding that most of the toppers from Latur do manage to scrape through in the semester exams, though they lack in communicative skills, especially in English.Dr S G Dixit of UDCT (University Department of Chemical Technology) which admits six to seven toppers from the Latur region also shares a similar view, though he says that the problem is not restricted to Latur toppers. ``It's not just the Latur students, but in general most of the candidates do not do as well in engineering as they did in HSC. Only the students with better learning skills survive.''The Minister of State for Education, Anil Deshmukh, is also not very impressed with the Latur Pattern. ``The Latur Pattern is good but it is nothing special. In Mumbai, most of the colleges have devised their own ways of preparing students for important exams. However, keeping the backwardness of the region in mind, the performance of Latur students is certainly commendable.''Jadhav's success formulaIt was way back in 1985 when Principal Aniruddha Jadhav of Rajarishi Shahu College, in Latur, devised and tried out the now famous Latur Pattern of studies for the HSC science students in his college. ``Around 15 years ago the children from our region were not performing well, which is why I thought about this study pattern. Now our college produces a minimum of 40 per cent toppers from arts, science and commerce streams every year,'' he said, speaking to Express Newsline over the phone.Principal Jadhav said that one of the salient features of this study programme was that students spent at least 10 hours with their teachers. Diwali vacations are also drastically cut down to devote more time to studies. ``We finish the syllabus by August and then begin the monthly mock board exams. In the first test we set a target of 70 per cent marks for our students and this target then steadily increases to 95 per cent as the real exams draw nearer,'' said Jadhav.
