On Teachers’ Day, some questions need answers

Though teachers have their own concerns, and justifiably so, they too need to have a deeper look at the societal concerns, which manifest in various forms - be it the constantly falling learning outcome of the students or the record number of students failing in the secondary and higher secondary examinations of 2016.

Teaching is a profession, where there are no half measures.

With quality education being a major casualty - a concern shared by all - quality teachers have become a rarity, especially in key subjects like English, mathematics, physics, chemistry and a few more. (PTI file)

Had it been so, Bihar would not have struggled on the school educational front despite a slew of initiatives and incentives.

Though teachers have their own concerns, and justifiably so, they too need to have a deeper look at the societal concerns, which manifest in various forms - be it the constantly falling learning outcome of the students or the record number of students failing in the secondary and higher secondary examinations of 2016.

But then, the scenario is not unexpected, nor does it require a rocket science to diagnose the malady. Students are virtually taken for a ride in the name of education, which they don’t realise in their quest for easy degrees until the blame of incompetence starts falling on them at the time of job hunt.

The result is for everyone to see. With quality education being a major casualty - a concern shared by all - quality teachers have become a rarity, especially in key subjects like English, mathematics, physics, chemistry and a few more. Even the posh private schools are facing the crisis of quality teachers despite offering good salary.

In government schools, which cater to bulk of the students, lack of trained teachers is one of the biggest impediments in improving the quality of education in Bihar. By 2020, the number of teachers in Bihar is expected to exceed 600,000 from around 4.00 lakh at present, according to an assessment by World Bank.

The WB has approved a $250 million credit for the state to improve the effectiveness of elementary school teachers over a five-year period. The Centre had given a deadline of 2015 to get all the untrained teachers trained. However, Bihar has pleaded for relaxation, as the state has training capacity of barely 6600 teachers annually.

The statistics give enough food for thought, with more than half (53.4%) of the students failing in matriculation in 2016, a steep fall from 75.17% just a year ago. In mathematics, in which Bihar students are known for doing better traditionally, out 15,47,083 students, 7,10,537 failed, while in science the number of those failing was 224,536, thanks to practical papers that rescued them.

An even starker trend was evident in intermediate science, in which the pass percentage fell from 89.32% to 67.06% and the number of students securing first division fell more sharply from 49.17%. to 21.77%.

Kedarnath Pandey, MLC and general secretary of the Bihar secondary teachers’ association, admitted quality slide in education, but blamed it on ‘lack of trust’ in teachers. “The system talks of quality, but does precious little to achieve that. The creature called teacher is nowhere in the government’s priority list and they are nowhere involved in the policy-making process. They are only required for non-academic work,” he added. Pandey said that growing ‘trust deficit’ and ‘falling dignity of teachers’ would always make quality education a tall order. “How can one expect quality when there is lobbying in schools to become in-charge, even though there is no word on how thousands of schools are running with just three-four teachers against enrollment of nearly 1000. The schools are somehow running is itself a big achievement in the prevailing circumstances,” he added.

Pandey said that dignity of teachers must be restored, and that could be achieved only by getting the basics right. “Now, imagine a clerk or didis of SHGs inspecting a high school! What would it prove? For monthly salary, the teachers have to wait for five-six months, as there is no budgetary provision yet. The blame-game for grant between the Centre and the state goes on for months, while the reality is that even in pre-1990 stage Bihar never had less than three-lakh teachers,” he added. Pandey said there were reports that around one-lakh out of 15-lakh government schools had closed down. “In Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh, the experiment of handing over schools to private companies on contract has already begun and it would only escalate in the days to come to trigger crass commercialization of education,” he added.

Ganesh Shankar Pandey, president of the newly-appointed secondary teachers’ association lamented that the service condition for teachers, which was to be prepared within three months, was hanging fire even a year later. “That shows the sensitivity. Even married women appointed seven-eight years ago have problems, as they cannot live with their husbands and kids due to their jobs. There is no provision of transfer,” he added.

In higher education, the dwindling teachers’ strength is a matter of serious concern. “How colleges are running without teachers and students still doing outstandingly in exams is something only the authorities can answer better, because teachers can’t teach only when they are there. There are colleges with over 6000-7000 enrollment and just seven-eight teachers. What is expected for teachers? Even Patna University has less than 300 teachers against the sanctioned strength of 900 after rationalization,” said former Patna College principal Prof Nawal Kishore Choudhary.