The best doctor in the health profession first diagnoses the disease and gets its status investigated through tests before prescribing the treatment. The recent “ASER” report on school education is nothing less than the doctor’s investigation. Full appreciation is what the School Education Department (SED) Jammu and Kashmir UT deserves for the successful completion of the report.
According to the Annual Status of Education Report / ASER 2022, there is an alarming drop in the reading ability of children at the elementary school level. That even a Class V student is unable to read a Class II level textbook is a worrying conclusion by the report. Further in Jammu and Kashmir, “the proportion of children in Std III in government or private schools who can read at least Std II level text dropped from 22.1% in 2018 to 19.0% in 2022.”
Notably, ASER 2022 went to 20 districts and a total of 557 villages in J&K; It had surveyed 10,924 households and 21,666 children in the age group of 3 to 16. The findings are shocking given the fact that we have plenty of well staffed and better infrastructure schools — every habitation has an institution. Yet, the unfavorable report has emerged. So what is the underlying cause?
Some people may try to give a context to the drop in the reading ability and argue that during the Covid-19 pandemic, schools remained closed and students got addicted to watching TV and mobile phones. With ample time available, the children remained hooked to various social networking sites. And hence a gradual decline in their study habits. Parents, teachers and educationists were unable— if not unwilling— to get them to better habits. This caused an irreparable loss to their academic ability. Make no mistake; a huge number of children in rural areas had shifted to government schools, possibly on account of closure of private schools in villages or on fee grounds during the Covid pandemic.
The above argument may come in sharp conflict with the experts and educationists asserting that there is virtually no room for excuses left for the teaching personnel; the schools should take immediate remedial action before it is too late. There is, hence, an urgent need to improve the teaching standards which appear to have come down. Teachers are better advised to look inward for genuine progress. I am not an expert on education but as an objective analyst, I would say that the ASER about the less-satisfactory reading skill is a tip of the iceberg. Much more hardwork is required to raise the competence level of children in writing, comprehension and arithmetic areas as well.
My years of experience in the teaching field at the school level has witnessed that the SED has taken dozens of very important and impactful steps towards the improvement in the academic standards of schools. Infrastructure building, almost full-year teacher trainings, rational deployment of teachers, etc. Long is the list. Despite these measures, a decline in the academic performance has been confirmed by the ASER, a worrying fact demanding fresh thinking and new approach. Pertinently, the ASER has not brought to light the underlying causes of the falling reading level among the school children.
One important though not invincible cause for the drop in the reading skill, lies in the approach of the immediate school management. Needless to say that the onus lies on school heads to ensure that the academic activities run smoothly with a child in focus. However, it has been noticed that most of head teachers are either unable or unwilling to promote an efficient academic atmosphere. More focus is given on rote learning and nonacademic activities. In fact, finishing the syllabi in a rapid, mechanical and lackluster manner is seen as a sign of a responsible and dedicated teacher. The argument that modern teaching should replace the old fashioned teaching methods is overtly or covertly disapproved. So unnoticed goes a child’s reading skill; writing skill included.
Additionally, most of the ‘head teachers’ count it below their dignity to consult the other teachers about the better ways for improving the academic standards. It is in bad taste to see a teacher — who happens to have joined the service earlier than the other teachers at a school— not working as a colleague but behaving like somebody whose say matters more and which must be adopted blindly.
A small incident. This author has a friend who told me that some time ago he worked at a particular school where he would suggest that the vast office room be partitioned into two parts — one part for an official use and another part for the eighth standard students who sat and studied throughout the session on the institute’s veranda. But his opinion was never deemed fit for a thought. Not to speak of abiding by it. The students completed their session on the veranda. Imagine, the status of studies of these students. The teacher further said that he was never able to teach these less-fortunate students ably, actively and accurately because of the communication failure on the veranda. Attention diversion, noise pollution, etc derailed everything there.
Why was the teacher’s appeal not heeded? Only because the first / senior-most teacher apparently was neither interested nor saw anything good in my friend’s good suggestion. Was it not an instance of a human rights violation by the school management to force the students to study on the veranda? Why not close the office chamber and turn it into a classroom for the students? Is an academic activity not more important? Big questions only to be answered by the high intellect people; I am not one.
To improve the reading ability of children, the well-intentioned SED is better placed to take some brilliant steps once again. One, it needs to provide a head teacher of a master’s rank to all the elementary schools —no first/ senior teacher be allowed to work as a head teacher. Two, ReT category teachers be transferred mandatorily and directed to work with the non ReT teachers and masters.
Three, the practice of visiting offices by a big chunk of teachers during working hours be reconsidered and watched strictly. Four, more cooperation with the directives of the SED be sought and ensured at the administrative and implementation phases.
(Author is a Teacher by profession and is a RK Columnist. He can be reached on: [email protected])