STAFF REPORTER
Guwahati: In a severe indictment of the state's overall education scenario, a study has found that around 30% of lower primary (LP) and upper primary (UP) government schools in Assam can't understand lessons taught.
No wonder the government has intensified efforts of late to improve the overall education scenario in the state. And as part of this, LP and UP school infrastructure are being improved.
However, this has apparently failed to reflect on the quality of education being imparted to school students.
As per sources, a primary reason for the lack of quality education in most LP and UP government schools is highly disproportionate pupil-teacher-ratio (PTR) in most of them. While the Right to Education (RTE) Act recommends a PTR of 30:1 in LP school and 35:1 in UP school, sources claim the ratio is not maintained in most of these schools in Assam.
According to the sources, 7,839 LP schools and 2,231 UP schools in the state the PTRs are not as prescribed by RTE Act.
This is taking a toll on the education being imparted to young children. Sources pointed out that it becomes almost impossible for a single teacher to take care of all students in a classroom if the PTR is higher than the prescribed ratio.
Further, many LP and UP schools lack sufficient number of classrooms, which too is having an impact on PTR - lesser number of classrooms is forcing schools to accommodate more children in a single room.
Reflecting the gravity of the situation, sources said 5,128 LP and UP schools need additional classrooms.
While acknowledging government's efforts to improve overall education scenario in Assam, particularly the push to develop infrastructure, sources stressed that unless the quality of education is improved, such measures would be meaningless as there would be no worthwhile positive impact on the sector.
Also, calling for changing the mode of teaching in schools, sources lamented that inclusive teaching is almost non-existent in most of them - primarily due to high PTR, which is the result of lack of adequate number of classrooms.
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