Turnaround strategy for government schools  

Poor enrolment in government schools in Assam is alarming, as it reflects both underutilization of the state’s resources as well as the deprivation of a large section of needy students of quality and free school education. This newspaper has brought to light, in its Monday’s edition, that school education in the state continues to grapple with the problem of a mismatch between the required teachers’ strength and student enrollment. The report reveals that of the total 45,490 schools, 140 have zero enrollment, 35,511 have less than 50 students, and 3074 schools a single teacher. The schools failing to attract students when teachers and staff are paid good salaries certainly point towards persistent problems gripping the system, the solutions to which must be found beyond the merger of schools and rationalization of teachers. When parents are sending their children to private schools and are not keen to send them to government schools, there must be serious introspection by teachers as well as school inspectors and other officials of the education department. One way of understanding the problem is teachers and government officials going door to door in their respective jurisdictions and asking parents to get feedback on some of the deficiencies in government-run schools that need to be removed to attract their children. Teachers at most private schools are paid lower salaries compared to government schools. During the fifth edition of Gunostav held earlier this year, over 81% of schools obtained an A+ or A grade. The Gunostav helps the state government to ascertain whether all students in elementary and secondary schools are meeting grade-specific learning objectives and to identify areas in which schools require improvement. The teachers’ bodies, which are at loggerheads with the department over streamlining the regular attendance of teachers, need to focus on falling enrollment and quality of teaching so that the primary objectives of the government’s incurring expenditure to provide quality education are achieved. The government appointing more teachers to improve the pupil-teacher ratio in single-teacher schools is an urgent requirement to ensure that enrolled students get a quality education. This step alone, however, is not going to address the overall situation of an unjustified pupil-teacher ratio in schools with nil students and those with less than 50 students. The central government is said to have mooted further consolidation and merger of the schools with nil and very low enrollment. Such steps are justified as taxpayers’ money cannot be spent only on paying teachers at these schools when they either have no students or very few students to teach. A major contributing factor behind the falling attraction for government schools is the absence of teachers for long periods due to various official non-teaching duties such as election duty, census operations, etc. In sharp contrast, teachers at private schools are not engaged in any such duties and can continue to take regular classes. When some government school teachers are deputed with official non-teaching duties, the remaining teachers run the classes and take classes on subjects in which they do not have expertise. Besides, the shortage of subject teachers, mathematics teachers, and science teachers in many government schools is another crucial factor behind the poor performance of students at these schools compared to private schools. When a government school continuously performs poorly, it shapes a negative perception about the quality of education in government schools, even though teachers may be good at teaching and can really help students learn their course if they get the opportunity to take classes without disruption. The teachers’ bodies and government departments blaming each other over falling enrollment have only led to the precipitation of the crisis. Some of the schools also require infrastructure support, and the government filling such gaps is crucial for improving the overall ecosystem. Compared to most private schools, government schools have sprawling campuses, which can be better utilized to create amenities for sports and other co-curricular activities to nurture talents in students. Some government schools have set examples in utilization of the schools’ campuses to impart practical lessons on farming, practice classes on biodiversity, and other branches of science that can be emulated by other schools. Such initiatives do not require massive government funding and only require innovative ideas. School Headmasters, principals, and senior teachers of government schools need to develop leadership qualities to articulate new ideas and seek government support to implement them. Special leadership training programmes can be organized by the Education Department to help teachers in government schools hone such skills. Announcing incentives for schools to come up with innovative ideas for improving teaching and learning and also contributing towards overall improvement in the school environment to attract more parents to send their children to their schools will go a long way in the overall improvement of government schools in the state. Teachers need to play a pivotal role in articulating and implementing the turnaround strategy.