To trick or teach?

Hired para-teachers mean more incompetent professionals in government schools

The pervasive lack of quality at the base of India8217;s educational pyramid has had tragic consequences. An inability to understand and enjoy what is being taught accounts for large numbers of children dropping out before completing eight or even five years of schooling. Automatic promotion, lack of a serious attempt at remedying basic deficiencies in literacy and numeracy skills ensures that large numbers of students fail in class ten, thus limiting their opportunities for further education and employment.

A concerted effort has been made by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to improve the provision and quality of school facilities and teaching-learning materials. But learning levels will not significantly improve unless teachers themselves have mastered the skills their students are expected to master. Some years ago, a study of primary school teachers in Tamil Nadu, indicated that over half of them could solve only 3 of 5 simple arithmetic problems based on the primary mathematics curriculum. Another study of teacher-trainees in Gujarat indicated that not even 30 of a batch of 184 could solve the sum 35215;3 correctly. More recent evidence from some states has corroborated the understanding that primary school teachers themselves have not acquired the basic competencies that their students are expected to acquire. The current hiring in large numbers, of para-teachers can only add to the large numbers of incompetent adults recruited to teach in government schools.

The issue of teacher8217;s competence needs to be addressed at all levels of education. For each level, we should be able to specify what types of knowledge and skill are required of teachers. An adaptation of the National Eligibility Test to ensure minimum standards for entrants in the teaching profession in higher education could be considered. The acquisition of this body of knowledge should be an essential requirement for recruiting new teachers and giving increments and promotions to the existing cadres.

At the elementary and secondary stages of education, every state will need to evaluate its teachers, take immediate remedial action and provide ongoing support. Special attention must be paid to 8216;difficult8217; subjects like mathematics, science, and language teaching 8212; especially English 8212; where the vast majority of English teachers are likely to fail in even the simplest of proficiency tests. Whereas the Knowledge Commission is already considering the issue of improving English instruction, other subjects also need to be considered.

It is important to focus on how these subjects can be taught interestingly and effectively. Lack of teacher competence in both content and methods of teaching has resulted in many students struggling to cope with classroom requirements. Many who survive and sit for the class ten examination tend to fail in these subjects. Students from SC/ST/OBC and Muslim communities are more likely to fail in the 8216;difficult subjects8217; in the state-level or CBSE examinations. Failure of students from these disadvantaged groups has prompted several discussions on making these subjects optional at the secondary stage to help more students pass. Making mathematics optional at the secondary stage was discussed recently by the Maharashtra Board of Secondary Education, while the National Commission for Minority Education has suggested making both mathematics and science optional in class ten. Such well-intentioned proposals need to be firmly resisted. While there is a critical need to review what is taught and evaluated at the secondary stage, piecemeal measures to make subjects optional are not the answer. We must be clear that if SC/ST/Muslim students are provided with competent teachers and schools that function, they are as capable of excelling as any other group of students.

Many of the critical challenges facing India cannot be tackled without significant improvements in the quality of school education provided to disadvantaged groups. The success of our reservation and affirmative policies in higher education and employment will depend largely on exponentially increasing the number of high achievers that enter the university system from these groups. Without this thrust of excellence, we will not be able to tackle the huge problem many industries are facing of finding suitable candidates from the vast ocean of university degree- and diploma-holders.

The little we know of the competence of college-educated primary school teachers may be an indicator that many college graduates are functioning with substandard learning skills. A country that has constituted a Knowledge Commission to enable it to be a leader in the creation of knowledge, also needs to have a credible institution to measure what our students and teachers in schools and colleges know, and do not know.

The writer is director, Centre For Learning Resources, Pune