Three quarter students fail baseline assessment in New Delhi
Delhi Government School
As almost 75 pc could not read a basic Class II level English story, the result of the baseline assessment, conducted by the Education Department of Delhi Government, startled the government and the educational professionals in India. Due to lack of the necessary facilities to students like qualified teachers, school children failed to perform, and lacked even the basics of education.
According to the data, 74 pc students of class 6 studying in the government schools could not read a paragraph from Hindi textbook and 67 per cent children could not do simple three digits by one digit division. Of 201,997 Class VI students from 1,011 Delhi government schools, merely 26 pc could read their own notebooks.
As part of the programme, “Chunauti-2018”, which aims at enabling students of government schools, especially Class 9, to overcome the adverse effects of the “no detention policy”, the assessment was to check the aptitude level of the students from Classes VI to IX. The data of the Class 6th assessment was released on Monday.
No culprit in sight
The ‘no-detention policy’ leaves the teachers with no choice but to promote the student who isn’t even familiar with the basics, “We are strictly instructed not to fail any student”, stated a government school teacher who did not wished to be named.
“Our education system is deteriorating. Students are provided with marks on the basics. The quality of answers is not judged. We are asked to be lenient on purpose. For example, we asked the students to write an application to the principal and they could not even structure the sentences correctly. This is the condition of the students who have scored above 95% in their 12th boards. They don’t even know the basic grammar rules”, said a professor from a college in Delhi.
Reforms in education and perception alike
Parents as well as teachers focus more on the quantitative outcomes of education rather than the qualitative ones. Confirms the professor, “Students mug up the course material as it is and vomit it out on the exam paper. Moreover, parents as well as teachers pay more attention to the marks than to what the kid is learning.”
The indulgent education system has had many heads turn. The news of the Political Science topper being arrested – her father bribed the officials so she could secure good marks – threw some light on the potholes in the Indian education system. Told a education professional of a Delhi college (who do not wish to be named), “In a place in India, every student scored 100% and the one with 98% didn’t get admission anywhere in his state. A reform in education is very much required. Therefore, the quality of students we are producing is deteriorating.”
The results for the assessment of Classes VII to IX will be released later.
