By : Vunglallian Tonsing
Forget yesterday. Work today. Plan for tomorrow. - Herbert N. Casson
Year after year, mainly from June to August, begins and ends the ritual of Manipur’s concerned citizens pouring their hearts out - through scores of illuminating, often damning and explosive articles, letters to editors and self-evident enrolment and performance statistics - all on the sorry state of education, as provided by the government. Instead of the churning each writer hoped for, their voices left unheard become cries in the wilderness. Strangely, while everyone hears these cries loud and clear, the ones who matter and are supposed to hear and do something about it - viz. the 60 elected representatives, the ministers given charge of the education portfolios, the government officials handling the departments of education, and the government principals, headmistresses, headmasters and teachers where, finally, the buck stops - do not seem to hear at all. The proof of that deafness lies in the shrieking silence regarding measures to improve education in the state. No doubt, some noises are made. Too true some efforts start with a bang, only to end up in smoke. Thus, till yesterday this writer would have accepted it is the age-old problem of: Who will bell the cat? But today, the state of affairs is such that it isn’t anymore a question of who will bell the cat … because there seems to be no cat to bell at all!
Interestingly, no one ever writes about the sorry state of education as provided by the hard-working private schools and colleges.
II
Some no-holds-barred editorials, like the IFP’s ‘Derailed Education System’ (June 6, 2007) and the subsequent, ‘Three Sighs for Government Schools’ have, once again, lamented about performances and urged the managers of government education to lay the necessary tracks to put education back on rails. The editorials have also driven home the very disturbing point - horrendous to all except the powers that be and government teachers - that the majority of the state’s population cannot afford private school education, and so the state is heading helplessly into a great “educational / intellectual divide”. This is happening despite the eleven worthy exceptions, led by a remarkable Michael T, epitomized in TSE’s 6th June, 2007’s hopeful editorial: ‘Charge of Rural Schools’. One truly wishes the exceptions and the charge were in reality the beginnings of a brave new world. But that’s probably asking for too much!
For against the backdrop of consistent non-performance, and a baffling refusal to come up with remedial measures by all stakeholders, especially the powers that be, one thinks the only way out is to come down to wishing for a miracle. One arrives at such irrationality because one has seen that, beside the inexplicable refusal to tackle the disease of non-performance arising out of non-attendance and non-teaching, whatever our governmental efforts have been, they have never risen to the occasion.
No doubt, there has been a spate of showy well-attended seminars with bombastic resolutions, a toothless Commission or two, much announced rationalization policies, countless shady fresh appointments, pointless shuffling of officials, creating a diversionary AD here and an AD there, sinking crores in ill-built new buildings, disbursing truck-loads of Godrej look-alike furniture or new soft-wood desks and benches where enrolment is zilch, (or, as one personally knows, where enrolment crossed 600 – fabulous for a government school! - only 20 pairs of desks and benches were allotted!!) … or authoring, publishing and supplying new ill-conceived, standard-suspect books, and buying computers at un-heard of prices etc. The outcome is failure, without even one exception!
Anyway, the story is that the only so-called successes have been confined to non-academics things like supply, contract and posting out of hills (into teacher-overflowing valley schools and colleges). And of course, new above-and-below-board appointments! Consequently, some persons are found laughing all the way to the bank. That laughter, sadly, is made at the expense of Manipur’s marginalized children (and youth, because colleges too have failed) that the State’s education system has condemned to be children of a lesser God.
III
Now that God has been mentioned, this writer would like to make his proverbial three wishes. It is his hope that the three can bring in the necessary changes for a more realistic fair new world, at least as far as teaching, examinations and results are concerned. Mind you, the wishes are made with fairly high hopes, because nothing is being expected, or asked, from those who let citizen’s concerns drift into the wilderness, viz. the governmental powers and establishments.
WISH, THE FIRST
When declaring the HSLC results the BSEM should think in terms of publishing the names of the first 500 candidates in the same manner as is being done for the Top 25. This would in no way rob the deserving toppers of their day, but would help education in the state in untold ways.
Reason for this wish: The suggested 20-fold increase in online display would help all the schools under BSEM know exactly where their own best students, all their own exam-oriented time, effort and methods stand in the context of Manipur’s HSLC examination results. It would not be an exaggeration to say that - more than all the CCEs, workshops and orientations put together - this information alone would help each school re-evaluate itself on an yearly basis, its teaching methods, notes, Q & A banks, its study plan etc., and plan their future strategies to climb up the performance ladder. Thus, just armed with this information the dynamics of private institutions will be triggered. It is this writer’s hope against hope that the government institutions too shall soon be equally moved.
What is happening today, with only details about the Top 25 made public, is that 99% of the schools grope in the dark, vis-à-vis their efforts : results :: their school : Manipur. In other words, a broader picture would definitely open the eyes and minds of all stakeholders (sadly excluding of course, the government and its institutions). Meaning, every private school, every private teacher (including every tutor and coaching center), every candidate, every parent, and society as a whole, would for once get a fair idea about which school, in which corner of the state, is excellent, good, average or poor based on the examination performance parameter (which, admittedly, is not the best criteria, but practically speaking is the only one we are forced to have). Thus this little information sharing shall definitely encourage each school to raise the examination performance bar on its own!
Moreover, in this RTI age it would be the right and fair thing to do. Thus the BSEM should put everything online. They’d also show the way for the Council, MU, MPSC etc. before someone appeals to the Act. In fact, why stop at 500? Why not put the whole result online, so that even Rank No. 10,331st gets to know what her/his marks secured for her/him, rank-wise. (By the way, this writer is not a champion of ‘rank is of prime important’).
WISH, THE SECOND
The BSEM should reduce the gap between the last day of a school’s academic year and the commencement of its HSLC Examination.
Reasons for this wish: Normal academic sessions, say in the hills of Manipur, are January-December, with actual classes beginning sometime in February and ending early December, complete with annual school examination results declared well before Christmas. This means that a student of Class-X will no longer go to her or his school (as she/he had been doing for the last ten years) as a regular fee-paying student as of the end of her/his school’s annual/final examination. That is, they actually become schooless students!
Now as the Board examination starts about the second week of March, it means that there is an exceedingly long gap of about 3 months (90 days!) between the last day of school and a student-candidate’s most important first public examination. Retaining this long gap raises the disturbing question: What do the student-candidates do during the waiting period of 3 long months? Especially of poorly managed schools, e.g. the majority of government schools and a fair number of private ones too.
All who were posed this question happily answered: Lots of coaching and special tuitions; that 90 days give much-needed time for serious exam-oriented studies, etc.
Well, that is all very fine for those who can afford it. But let us not forget that even for the haves, three months out of school is an awfully long period of time. And then, the still more important questions are: What of those who cannot afford such specialized studies for so many months? Of what use is this period to those who live where the tutors available are not so good as to make much of a difference? What if they have the money but there aren’t any excellent tutors available? What if they do not have the money? Are such to be dismissed just like that? What of those who were average ‘okay’ students while schools were in full swing? What, if without the regularity and discipline of school life, these average/okay students do not have the will power and self-discipline to continue being good/okay? What if the crucial family support, or financial means to last out 3 long months on their own is just not there? The questions are aplenty.
The point of all this is: Let us not delude ourselves that this category of candidates is small in number. Let us further not delude ourselves that these students who had been attending school regularly, for ten plus years, are prepared to meet any challenge thrown at them. Actually, when some sort of control … discipline … is critical, because of the impending Board’s, they are suddenly and unexpectedly let loose to stand on their own feet! That too for 3 long months. Doesn’t anyone see this is very unfair? That, at the tender and impressionable age of 15/16, youngsters are left to fend for themselves? Then again, especially, what of the fate of the already marginalized … the poor and government school student, and all that? Aren’t they going to get a double doze of marginalization? It is so terribly unfair.
When looked at it age-wise, it is like throwing lambs to the ravenous wolves of cruel time. When looked at it from the angle of good tuitions, the number of student-candidates who turn out to be disadvantaged is obviously huge. In fact, so huge that most would be strong contenders for occupying a place in the group of 70% that have been failing in every HSLC and HSS Examination for the past many years. In truth, not unsurprisingly, they are the ones who knock the wind out of the sails of the Board, or Council, who in their desperation to get higher pass percentages, have been trying things like conducting trainings, orientations and workshops etc. for teachers. Whereas, one thinks it does not require any intelligence, to conclude that the bulk of this fore-doomed 70% are those who did not have enough schooling … let alone tuition/coaching! That lack of schooling is what has to be tackled first, and second, ways and means for quality time and teaching, during that ‘enough schooling time,’ has to be made available to all students of Manipur’s schools.* As the majority of the student-candidates did not have long enough quality schooling, the results are for all to see. If, on the other hand, they had had both, (as per the prevailing academic session being criticized here), then it has to be admitted that the schools - and even the tuitions - were and are apparently not up to the mark.
*Note: It is of telling significance that Manipur wants quality education without ensuring as much as possible of quality time and quality teaching!
(more next Sunday)
In the hills it can proudly be said: Every parent, every student organization, every civil society organization, and even every state and non-state force discourages disruption of education! Can this be said of the valley? In all truth, no! Although, all know that 250 (!) plus working days is the need of the hour. In a nut-shell, that is the valley’s special problem. Whereas, the special problem of the hills is that quality teachers – especially in maths and science – are missing … and, hence, the question of quality time and quality teaching cannot arise!
Coming back to tuitions, it would be interesting - though well nigh impossible - to find out how many student-candidates take, and do not take tuitions before their Board/Council examinations? Before we put an imaginary figure to that, and draw some conclusions, let us remind ourselves that in the last few years the pass percentage of BSEM, and for that matter COSHEM too, have been around 30% only, which is very bad. That also means 70% FAILED, which is very very bad, nay, very frightening … and screams out that there is something wrong!!
So, those who had happily answered, ‘Coaching / Tuition’ etc., have to now consider this: At 100/100, with 100% taking tuitions, only 30% pass! Or at 70/30, with 70 taking tuitions, only 30% pass. Or at 50/50 only 30% pass. Meaning, always, tuition or no tuition, 70% Fail, with the majority presumably drawn from government schools. (This is not to say that all who go to private schools pass). However, the situation is actually quite hopeless, in spite of a Michael T or two! Therefore, shouldn’t this compel us to conclude, that giving so much time for tuitions has proved unsuccessful … just not worth it? That, isn’t the call for a major re-think, if not an outright overhaul loud, clear and long over-due?
To those who still continue to say that the results are good … (so good that this year our topper secured 615 marks out of a total of 600 marks! That is another story altogether). To them this writer says: More than the topper and the successful 30%, the concern must be for the 70% who do not make it every year!
What is being implied is: When we weigh things, as we must, in the context of the whole state … the fate of every year’s 70% needs the greatest single-minded attention of every Manipurian - man or woman, over or under-ground, valley or hill-based, student or civil society organization … (especially those who have the privilege of being members of unchallenged pressure-groups) … in fact, all those presently living within the state of Manipur or in the States a-diaspora. Because every year’s 70% increases the magnitude of unrest, un-employment, deprivation, tension, hunger, pain, anger, you name it, in our land! Especially, as these sons of the soil are more likely (than say the 30%) to stay on and on in this land … as inhabitants living with the stigma of having failed their first public examination. What is worse is that their future is truly bleak with no one wanting them. The cruel joke is, they cannot be called illiterate … but they land up un-employable!
The reality is that this is the frightening divide for they are Manipur! Their destiny and our destiny are linked, in fact chained. Thus, that is all the more reason why the more privileged must do something!
Thus our priority ought to be: Do any and every thing to change the conditions that lead to such poor pass percentages. Especially now that we know tuition or no tuition … only 30% make it! And we shall continue to be unfair to 70%, if we do not discard the set of conditions that perpetrate this annual unfairness. It’s simply not cricket! So, to be fair to one and all, ways must be found to let all students have more and more regular schooling … preferably, right up to the start of the public examination itself. If that can be achieved by doing away with the gap, so be it. Then, that’d be a bit more of cricket.
Secondly, retaining this gap of 3 months by BSEM and COSHEM - ostensibly to give additional time for special exam-oriented coaching/tuition for candidates to perform better - implies two things at the least:
(a) the Board and Council are admitting that the study/teaching during the academic session in schools/colleges is not good enough, and so requires the remedial touch of tutors. This also amounts to the tuition system being encouraged by none other than the state’s said two examining bodies.
(b) The two examining bodies have not been able to deduce that the continuance of the gap of 3 months is counter-productive. The myth of remedial coaching/tuitions making students perform better has already been exploded, and so the conclusion must be: The gap must go, for our future’s sake.
Anyway, the question here is again: Remedial for whom? Only the haves? It stands to reason – very importantly - that removal of the gap will put the pressure on all schools to meet the challenges of excelling from their very own doorsteps … all through the academic session of each and every batch, right up to D-day. That the privates shall take the bull by the horns is a given, but the more critical thing is that we know the government and the government schools, and the government teachers, are hardly going to bother! (Sorry for the generalization that lumps TGHS, JHS etc. with the failed government institutions …but one gathers they also know they are very pale shadows of what they were once, not very long ago). That needs the most serious of thoughts and action. With a new Minister at the helm of affairs one can have some hope, though the balls in his court are far too many. All one can say, at this point of time, is the first lot of balls have very little to do with private institutions.
Suggestion:
Now, as the first of the two public examinations in the lives of students of Manipur commence from the second week of March every year, BSEM’s academic year should end around the 20th of February every year. If that were done, then literally, each school’s candidates would prove their school’s worth, and NOT THE TUTOR’S WORTH …which, mind you, has proved to be worth only 30%! So, why not try for some thing that could reverse the pass percentage … to 70% Pass and 30% Fail, for starters. This dramatic reverse can only happen when the gap of 3 months is done away with, and schools get longer and more quality teaching time with their own student-candidates.
Private schools, being endowed with quick reaction time, would quickly take stock and do the needful. Each school could become truly more affirmative and accountable. Wouldn’t that be one little no-cost way to help Manipur get back on the long hard road to recovery?
Note: The trouble, and the sad thing here, is that when anyone makes any suggestion – with high expectations – everyone simply and invariably excludes government schools completely! Worse, the government school teachers reading this article, would themselves think, the suggestion(s) are addressed to private schools, and not to them! The point of this insertion is that ways must be found to include the otherwise privileged government teachers. They must become part of the vocabulary, for they have a great great role to play. They should feel that their not playing their part is one of the reasons for the educational wasteland that is Manipur. They must – in Christian parlance – be born again, and pick up the gauntlet. It is suggested that this be one of the first balls the powers-that-be must pick up to get the game going.
WISH, THE THIRD:
Our public examinations have to be uniformly free and fair all over Manipur. Of late all three important examining bodies – BSEM, COHSEM and MU – are doing quite a lot through their flying squads. This, though laudable, is not good enough, for the simple reason that sans flying squads mela-like examinations would make a come-back! Instead, the effort has to be more from each examination center itself so that the needs for such squads simply vanish.
‘Free and fair’ examinations must become the order of the day, till a better system - other than examinations - come into place. Till such a time, as examinations will decide many a fate … it calls for ‘free and fair’ of the highest and unquestionable order.
Reasons for this wish:
Some praiseworthy efforts - by an underground organization, a few private centers, a few student and non-student organizations and a rejuvenated Board, Council and MU - to clean our examinations have been underway for a few years. Despite these efforts, one still has to call loudly for free and fair examinations … because it is not yet a people’s movement, not yet every teacher’s or student’s ideal, not yet every parent’s last minute advice to her/his candidate-child. Also, each center differs widely in its degree of cleanliness. Further, because examinations, like syllabi, need constant upgrading and modifications even where they are conducted well. This writer suggests three inputs that do not involve any financial outlays, though calling for loads of work and meticulous planning on the part of the managers of the examinations.
First, the BSEM/COHSEM/MU should pool resources in such a way that each examination center should have a minimum of 1500 or so candidates.
Second, the 1500 or so candidates per center should comprise of candidates from about 5 to 10 different schools / colleges, both private and government.
Third, as all high schools and higher secondary schools have uniforms it should be a Board / Council rule that all candidates wear their respective uniforms during examinations.
The whole purpose of the above three inputs is to enable each examination center to arrange mixed seating of candidates in every examination hall or room. Meaning that the seat chart should be prepared in such a way that each hall/room should have candidates from at least three or four different institutions sharing a hall/room. In this way a hall or room cannot be dominated by any one school/college. The different uniforms in each hall/room, seen in a mixed pattern will not only be attractive and colourful, but more importantly, is designed to discourage anyone resorting to unfair means … by placing strangers around each candidate.
The suggested system provides simple, effective measures that are self-regulatory in nature, in that the candidates are not only more on their own, but also have to think of their institution’s name/prestige in the company of candidates from other institutions seated in the same room/bench, and under the supervision of teachers from many institutions and coming from all over. (Here, in anticipation, one begs the government teacher not to raise any ego issue because of rubbing shoulders with lowly paid private teachers). Admittedly, a lot more work and care has to be put in by the examination staff and the invigilators, but the fruit of such labour is a high degree of a free and fair examination. That that is achieved within the system, is very very rewarding. Especially, as what happens inside the examination hall or room is transparent in the presence of many witnesses, especially by good candidates who do not feel cheated!
Note 1: The above has been put into practice successfully in HSE/ Churachandpur Private Centre for the last few years. (Having said that, this system – though successful for now – must shortly evolve with time and changing needs).
2: It is admitted that in some remote areas even half the said number of 1500 may not be possible/available. However, the examining bodies should club as many institutions together in rural/hill centers to ensure as much mixed seating as possible (and practicable).
3: One thing to be got rid of when any clubbing takes place, is the feeling of loss of prestige when old/previous examination centers are dropped for an area to have one combined one only. Those affected should know that prestige is not an issue. Clean examination is.
IV
In keeping with the world’s craze for visuals, it is also thought that if parliament sessions or a voting booth can be video-graphed, why not have the same thing done for public examinations? A 30-minute clip of an examination hall would irrefutably say much much much more than an exam-in-charge’s report or a few sentences filed by a correspondent.
V
Finally, if wishes were horses then beggars would be kings, goes the saying. One would like to make believe and think the reverse be true, for in a land where all of us live thinking we are kings … and are now, kind of, beggars really begging (for education), horses would then be wishes. So, one could have one’s wishes come true. And a wasteland turns into a fair new world of good education, both government and private.
As it is, if there is imagination and will nothing is impossible.
Source: Imphal Free Press
