Crippling standards

It may be correct that in the interiors, learning English has little import ? but this is a regional divide, not one defined by community or caste lines.

The National Commission for Minority Education Institutions (NCMEI)’s suggestion that performance in maths and English need not be considered for promotion to Class 6 in government schools must be rejected outright. This absurd desire is based on an HRD Ministry survey that apparently, the poor marks scored by Muslim, SC, ST and OBC students in these two subjects in Class 5 is the reason for their dropping out of school. The NCMEI feels that promoting all 10-year-olds to Class 6 is a good method of retention. Their argument couldn’t be more flawed. For one, the commission doesn’t specify how students will cope with the mathematics and English syllabus in higher classes. In pursuit of affirmative action, must we rob children of the need to strive to do better, especially in the two subjects that are the backbone of academics?

HT Image

It may be correct that in the interiors, learning English has little import — but this is a regional divide, not one defined by community or caste lines. In villages and small towns, learning English can be a needless exercise — beyond which, in the bigger towns and cities, it becomes mandatory, whether one likes it or not. Would the Dalits and Muslims in towns and city government schools accept a trimming of opportunities available to them at a later stage because of poor maths or language skills? If dilution of standards begins this early — from primary to middle school — India can wave goodbye to any hopes of becoming a knowledge society. And, surely, the fundamentals of maths — fractions at Class 5 level, not trigonometry — is something that every child must understand, if only to manage his earnings and not be cheated. Foundational education must provide for multiple starting points vis á vis calibre (first generation learners clearly need more help). By Class 6, proficiency should be measurable so that the achievers can be put on a faster learning track. The rest can be provided with curriculum, even for artisan work or farming, appropriate for the students’ environment. Irrelevancy of the school pill pushes kids to drop out of school — not only the inability to cope.

It’s better for the NCMEI to focus on designing a plethora of curriculum relevant to various regions and communities. The curriculum must be commensurate with a region’s profile, current status and future so that we don’t unleash a unidimensional assembly-line procedure on India’s young learners.