The results of the High School Leaving Certificate Examinations have shown yet again that Catholic schools are not yet ready to be over ranked by Government schools. The spoils were snapped up by two mission girls only school: Nirmalabas with 13 top ranking students and Little Flower School with 13 ranks out of the top 25 ranks. Given earlier track records where Government schools have not been able to stake a claim the top spots, the presence of a Government model school does say something about the extra efforts being put into such initiatives. Earlier too, the lone Government model school in Imphal West had managed to stay on the top rankings. Clearly, this means that where there is political will and where there is a strategic implementation and planning, starting from the process of recruiting teachers to maintaining the quality of teaching, Government schools can indeed improve. Therein comes the question of why the working nature and the value that exists in Government model schools are not being replicated in every Government schools. If the Education Department is serious about being in a competition with private and mission schools, it would have to act soon and upscale the quality of all Government schools and not just confine its attention on the few model schools. In any case, a certain section of the population do hold the view that private and mission schools are elitist and cater to only those who can afford them. If the Government were to give its due attention to a few model schools, it would be equally suspect of playing choose and deliver while ignoring the larger majority. It would also be a tacit acceptance that it knows the quality of government schools and its teaching can improve but give the signal that it is not ready to go for the big change.
And no, the rankings in examinations can be no benchmark for the levels of education. Rather, there are now efforts in the country to out in a grading system rather than a marking system starting from high school examinations but compared with the education systems followed in other countries, the Indian system lacks in imagination and concentrates itself on academic excellence and has no elements of practical application. Which is why sports is frowned upon during high school. In Manipur too, where we all lap up the ‘sports loving people’ tag, not much action or support system exists in the school set up. In fact, while talking to IFP following Nameirakpam Chingkheinganba’s conquest over Mount Everest, his father Tomba let in that his son had to change his school after his 8th standard as his earlier alma matter did not take his leave taking for his various trekking expeditions too kindly. This means that schools give the total priority on academic excellence and has no room for other talent nurturing. Contrast this with other countries or even other states where students are given leave for co-curricular activities and then given extra classes and special attention once they return to school. Compare this also to some very interesting initiatives for college students who have shown creativity and ingenuity to actually drop out from college and pursue their dreams of taking up projects, making films, forge community linkages etc.
Even when the main focus is on academic performance, the social and political environment in Manipur does not even support that line of approach. The occurrence of bands and blockades at the drop of a hat in fact comes in the way of the school syllabus being affected. A factor that students have gone on record as saying affects the environment of education. With a host of state holidays and the very popular habit of various civil society groups to herd out students from classes on to the streets to take part in various rallies and agitations, the number of school working days takes a steep nosedive. An NCERT study showed that only half the states have adopted the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), which has resulted in variations in number of working days, time allotted for teaching subjects like mathematics and science and evaluation of learning levels. That study stated that Manipur only had 160 working school days with Bihar and Jharkhand clocking 253 days. Clearly, the education sector in the state needs to be streamlined which is not an impossible task. All it would entail is a clear strategy on whether education is to be only of academia or to be inclusive of co-curricular activities and to scale up the quality of teaching that exists in Government schools so that it is not just a section of the student population that gets the best out of the schooling system but ensure that every student has the right to an all round quality education.