ಆತ್ಮೀಯರೇ,
ಎಸ್.ಎಸ್.ಎಲ್.ಸಿ ಫಲಿತಾಂಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಗಳ ಸ್ಥಾನಮಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಏರಿಕೆಯಾಗಲು ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ಮೇಲಿರುವ ಒತ್ತಡ ಹಾಗು
ಫಲಿತಾಂಶ ಏರಿಕೆಗಾಗಿ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ವಿಭಿನ್ನ ಚಟುವಟಿಕೆಗಳು, ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ಫಠ್ಯೇತರ ಕಾರ್ಯಗಳ ಬಗೆಗಿನ ಐಟಿ ಫಾರ್ ಚೇಂಜ್
ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಯ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕರಾದ ಶ್ರೀ ಗುರುಮೂರ್ತಿಕಾಶಿನಾಥನ್ ರವರ ಲೇಖನ ದಿನಾಂಕ 17.05.2016 ರಂದು ಆಂಗ್ಲ
ದೈನಿಕ ಪತ್ರಿಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಕಟಗೊಂಡಿದೆ. ಈ ಕೆಳಗಿನ ಲಿಂಕ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಲೇಖನ ಓದಬಹುದು.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/553435/pressure-teachers-improve-rankings.html
Pressure on teachers to improve rankings
By Gurumurthy Kasinathan, 21 June 2o16, DHNS
The head masters (HMs) of government high schools in Bengaluru South
were largely a disheartened lot when SSLC results were declared last
month. The district had been ranked 30 out of 34 in the state, in terms
of students’ pass percentages.
The enormous pressure year after year to “improve” rankings have made
HMs and teachers war-weary. As the academic year begins, it is time to
explore what could be different for teachers and students. What they
need to do, seems elusive to fix. Instead we could begin with something
easier: what they should stop doing.
In our work with the government high schools across Karnataka, we found
that teachers put in huge efforts towards high SSLC pass percentages.
Class 10 students are required to be in school beyond school hours every
day, and on Sundays and holidays, for “extra studies.”
There is no teaching, no interaction or peer learning here, students
simply sit together with a book in their hands. Most staff rooms even
display a chart assigning teachers for supervising such “extra studies”.
Every free period in class 10 is handed over to the mathematics or
science teacher. As the academic year progresses, the HMs also hand over
periods allocated to non-examination subjects like physical education,
music, art, craft to enable ‘covering’ the syllabus in time. The drill
gets to the next level in January, when teachers bring out ‘pass
packages’ with questions likely to be asked in the examinations;
focusing on students’ memorising ready-made answers. Names like ‘target
40’, ‘target 60’ of these packages suggest the percentage students can
get, if they can mug their content.
The drill progresses with preparatory examinations. While I remember
writing one preparatory examination, before my SSLC exam decades ago,
today three such preparatory examinations are commonplace. Even if
teachers are skeptical, they are forced by HMs and the department to
drill. The lower your district is on the rankings, the greater the
pressure to drill.
The result of this intense and prolonged effort is visible in the tired,
dull and blank faces of students. Even earlier, learning may not have
been a joy for many, Class 10 is positively a torture. With no time to
unwind, or play, or reflect on their learning, students switch off. The
fear of failure takes over, alienating students further; attested to, by
the suicide stories we hear around examination failure.
Educational wisdom, discussed in policy documents as the National
Curricular Framework, 2005, emphasises that learning requires a stress
free environment, where students can engage actively with the cla-ssroom
processes and connect these to real life, going beyond merely acquiring
bookish facts.
Karnataka has formally adopted this Curricular Framework as state
policy, yet practices on the ground described earlier, have not changed.
For this policy to become effective, teachers must have autonomy to
decide on the content and method of transaction, to make it useful and
accessible to learners. As a teacher educator suggested pithily, “let
teachers discover the syllabus, not cover it”.
*Building foundational skills*
It is also useful to understand what SSLC passing means. In Bengaluru,
half the passing students, barely get through with a C or C+ grade. The
HMs report that many who pass are unable to even write a letter
requesting for their transfer certificate, required for college
admission. SSLC has failed in its objective of building foundational
skills of learning and communication in students.
The HMs are treated by the department as extension staff, and enrolled
for activities and meetings, most of which take them out of school.
Every month, HMs attend many meetings called by district and block
education offices. Sometimes it is to share information, which could
simply have been emailed. In many cases, a short interaction of an hour
or two can waste their entire day.
During 2014-15, the Bengaluru South HMs reported that they were
involuntarily out of school for 30% of working days, performing
activities such as unaided schools inspections, assessments, visits etc.
The impact of this on school academic performance is beyond imagination.
The HMs need support and resources to develop as school leaders, and
stop being ‘department personnel.’ Perhaps the RTE Act, which limits
non-teaching activities of teachers, needs to be amended to stipulate
that school leaders must not be co-opted for activities that have no
connection with their primary responsibility - school development.
The education system requi-res schools to maintain a large number of
registers and records without adequate administrative or technology
support. A peek into a staff room is likely to reveal at least one
teacher manually filling in registers or preparing reports.
It is time to seriously review these practices for their negative impact
on student experiences and academic outcomes. Surely, we cannot repeat
practices that cause failure and expect results to improve. Less is
more, is a les-son for most government high schools in Karnataka, not
only for those in Bengaluru South.
(The writer is Director, IT for Change, an NGO that works with
government high schools in Karnataka, and a visiting faculty at Tata
Institute of Social Sciences)
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