The fear among educationists over how private tuitions are deteriorating the standard of education in the state just came true with the Annual Status Education report of 2012 pointing that nearly 73% students in Bengal take recourse to tuitions while less than a quarter of them (23.3%) in rural areas countrywide take tuitions to supplement what is taught in schools.
"The dependence on tuitions stems from the fact that schools focus on completing the syllabi instead of giving attention to students. Most of the teachers are not concerned about what the students are learning," said Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, Ford Foundation International professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the director of Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab.
Speaking at an interactive session organized by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Banerjee on Monday argued in favour of a Right to Learn instead of the Right to Education (RTE) as the latter had hijacked all other issues in the education sphere and led to decline in teaching standards. While 50% students in Class III could read Class-I level texts in schools, just over 40% were able to do so in 2012. In mathematics, it was worse. While 40% Class III students could do subtraction in 2009, around 25% students could manage to do it in 2012.
"Prior to 2009, the education level was flat. But there has been a perceptible decline after the RTE came into force. While it could be coincidental, replacing examination till Class XII with continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) hasn't helped. The teaching process becomes meaningless without some way to monitor learning. CCE takes away the accountability of the teachers," the professor reasoned.
The study also revealed that over 60% of students who took tuitions could read as well as do mathematics, pointing to the lacunae in school education.
"That there is no mention of 'learning' in RTE is a pointer to what is wrong with the legislation. In RTE, there is a lot of emphasis on teacher-student ratio, teacher salary and physical infrastructure. Studies have shown no correlation between these factors and improvement in learning. On the other hand, it may force many schools to shut down as they cannot afford high salaries or huge infrastructure," he said.
Also, vernacular medium schools in rural areas seemed to deliver higher quality of education at lower cost per pupil. "A popular notion that private schools, particularly English medium, offer better education was proved wrong in the study. Private schools only deliver small gains. In test score results, there is little difference between public and private schools," Banerjee said.
West Bengal Human Rights Commission chairman Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly, who was the chief guest at the interaction, was scathing of the government's attempt to withdraw itself from education and pass it on to private sector. "Look at the government schools. Many are on the verge of closure as everyone runs to privately operated English medium schools. Education is the safest business. Today you have AC classrooms, AC buses and inordinately high fees. Private education has taken away access to education from a large section of the population," Justice Ganguly said.
Terming it a deliberate ploy by the state to encourage the spawning of a society that was not literate, and hence, unable to raise its voice and protest against injustice, Ganguly said private education was being deliberately pumped into the sector to make it expensive and inaccessible. "The results are for all to see: there is no discipline in schools, there is mass copying and teachers are being assaulted by students. The withering away of the state from education pains me everyday," he said.
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