Put to the test

Something is worryingly wrong in schools in Jharkhand. As this newspaper reported on Wednesday,about 55 per cent of students failed the state Plus Two examination this year. In the science stream,72 per cent have failed. The decline has hardly been dramatic; instead,a gradual slide over the past few years has resulted in this statistic. In the science stream,for instance,50 per cent had failed two years ago,and 70 per cent last year. Evidently,there has not been an effective governmental intervention to arrest the slump.

The numbers point to a failure of intent and implementation on the part of the authorities,but even now they defend themselves,crediting the particularly stringent measures adopted against cheating in exams this year for the low pass percentage. While there should be vigilance against malpractices,and while such watchfulness should be in place as a matter of course,that by itself is no excuse for the mess in the teaching and examination system now highlighted.

Education is a childs right,and the performance of state-run schools is especially important. They make education accessible to every student these are the first resort for those from less privileged backgrounds,but are often at the receiving end of flagrant institutional neglect. The infrastructure should be strengthened. Theres an acute shortage of teachers in government schools from Class I to XII and these should be filled forthwith. Teachers performance too needs to be more closely monitored. Nothing points as clinically and gravely to a crisis as statistics,but remedial measures are to be sought elsewhere in enlightened policy statements and their effective implementation.