Of private tuition

It is sad that a sizable section of school students continue to depend heavily on private tuition despite the government’s efforts to bring private tuition to an end. The report of a Comprehensive Modular Survey on Education conducted by the Government of India across the country has brought to light that while 40 to 42 per cent of students in urban areas are heavily dependent on private tuition, the figure stands at between 16 and 21 per cent in rural areas. The survey covered students from the pre-primary stage to the higher secondary level. As prominently reported in the Sunday edition of this newspaper, the survey also revealed that more male students were going for private tuition in comparison to girls. The survey has also brought to light the fact that private tuition starts from the pre-primary level itself. It said, on average, 12 per cent of students in the pre-primary level in urban areas and three per cent in rural areas are provided private tuition. In middle education, 23 per cent in rural areas and 45 per cent in urban areas, on average, go for private tuition. What is of concern is that though the government had introduced the TET mechanism to select quality teachers for government schools, the rising trend of private tuition paints a negative picture of the TET-qualified teachers. The situation thus demands that, in a state like Assam, the Education Minister make surprise visits to schools every week so as to find out for himself what exactly is going on in the government schools. The government should also make it mandatory for the Inspectors of Schools to actually inspect at least two or three schools under their area of jurisdiction every week. There is no reason why inspectors cannot inspect schools. It is common knowledge that the condition of many government schools is not at all satisfactory. Even after the government has spent huge sums of money, many government schools do not have basic things like blackboards, safe drinking water facilities, clean toilets, and ramps for the differently abled. Such schools exist within a two-km radius from the Education Minister’s office.