Don’t blame only teachers for poor results

Educators need to be well trained and prepared to deal with diverse classrooms

Upset over the abysmally low percentage of students — 31.5% — who passed the class 10 pre-board exams in the Capital, the Delhi government’s education department is planning to penalise teachers and principals of the worst performing government schools. Out of 1,34,200 students, who recently appeared in the class 10 pre-board exams, only 42,224 managed to pass. But the crisis in secondary education isn’t limited to Delhi alone. The recently released Annual Status of Education Report for 2017 said 40% of the students between the ages of 14 and 18 surveyed in rural schools in 24 states across the country couldn’t tell the time from a clock and 57% couldn’t do basic maths. Blaming teachers and principals for the declining standards of education in government schools is short-sighted. Part of the responsibility for falling grades can be traced to the shortfall in faculty. Going by data from Delhi government’s department of education, from the sanctioned strength of 66,736 teachers, just 38,926, or 58.3% of teachers’ posts in Delhi’s government schools have been filled. The shortfall in teachers is a national phenomenon. As many as 18% positions of teachers in government-run primary schools were vacant nationwide, according to data tabled in the Lok Sabha in December 2016.

Beyond numbers, many government teachers are low on morale and complain of being saddled with non-teaching responsibilities such as Census duties and field surveys. Only 13% of teachers cleared the Common Teacher Eligibility Test conducted by the CBSE in 2016. Although the recruitment and service conditions of teachers are the primary responsibility of state governments, after the promulgation of the Right to Education Act in 2009, the Centre’s role in enabling states to sustain quality has become important. The finance minister mentioned improving teachers’ education and learning outcomes as priorities in his budget speech. This is where the real focus should lie.