Page 32 - February EW 2024 PDF

Education News

as “a place providing coaching for Social & Economic Change, blames
any study programme or competitive over-the-top affirmative action. “The
examinations or academic support to government’s reservation policy (for
more than 50 students at school, col- scheduled castes, tribes and OBCs)
lege, and university level, but does not has reduced the number of general
include counselling, sports, dance, merit seats available in professional
theatre and other creative activities”. colleges. This has intensified compe-
A prime factor driving the growth tition with students relying on coach-
of the test prep industry and student ing centres to get them admission. We
stress/student epidemic, is intense need to increase student capacity in
competition to secure admission into our premier institutions as well as in-
the limited seats available in the coun- vest in upgrading second and third-ti-
try’s too-few high-quality colleges and er universities and colleges. Moreover,
universities such as the IITs, medical we need to upgrade secondary school
institutions, and top-ranked under- curriculums and standardise them
grad colleges. For instance, the coun- across all state and central boards.
try’s 23 IITs admit a mere 17,385 stu- This will ensure a level playing field
dents — 1.6 percent of the 1.1 million for all students writing competitive
who write the IIT-JEE exam. Ditto exams.”
the country’s 695 medical colleges ad- At bottom, all these recommenda-
mit only 1.06 lakh of the 1.14 million tions to reduce students’ stress and cut
school-leavers who write the NEET the Rs.58,000 crore test prep/coach-
exam annually. This demand-supply ing industry to size require greater that prides itself on its intellectual
gap supplemented with the persistent budgetary allocation for human re- prowess. In Bengal, ASER 2023 field
failure of government to upgrade the source development aka education. tested the learning outcomes of 1,361
country’s 45,000 undergrad colleges For several decades, education youth in the 14-18 age group from
is pushing a rising number of students expenditure (Centre plus states) has 1,200 households in 60 villages of
to enroll in coaching institutes where been mired in the 3-4 percent of GDP Cooch Behar district.
rigorous study time-tables drive some bog cf. 7-10 percent expended by According to the survey, 79.2
to suicide. developed OECD countries and the percent of 14-18 year-olds can’t solve
ommenting on the newly issued global average of 5 percent. With the simple 3-digit by 1-digit division
Cguidelines in the Times of India Centre running a 6.5 percent fiscal sums. Also, 61.3 percent of 14-
(January 27), Prof. V. Ramgopal deficit and most states following suit 18 year-old youths in the district
Rao, former director of IIT-Delhi and unwilling to slash middle class couldn’t read simple sentences in
and group vice chancellor of BITS- subsidies and runaway establishment English. Moreover, 38.38 percent of
Pilani, wrote that “to truly tackle the expenditure and monetise public sec- students in the 14-18 year age group
problems associated with coaching tor assets to release resources for edu- couldn’t follow written instructions,
institutes and reduce anxiety among cation, initiatives such as proscribing and 34.4 percent can’t read basic
students, the country needs to adopt coaching schools are little more than class II textbooks in their native
a comprehensive approach that goes a slap on the wrist and likely to drive Bengali language.
beyond mere symptom treatment”. the test prep industry underground. A growing number of monitors
He recommends several initiatives — Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) of education in Bengal attribute the
improving the supply-demand-ratio pathetic learning outcomes of the
by increasing the number of seats in WEST BENGAL state’s youth to the prolonged lock-
premier institutes, developing effec- down of schools statewide during the
tive online learning programmes, in- Reckless neglect Covid-19 pandemic. India’s educa-
creased investment in teacher training, tion sector lockdown during the pan-
making competitive exam processes eleased on january 17, the lat- demic (2020-21) averaging 82 weeks
more transparent and launching pub- est Annual Status of Educa- was the longest worldwide. But the
lic awareness campaigns to educate Rtion Report (ASER) 2023 ‘Be- lockdown of education institutions in
students and parents on the diversity yond Basics’ of the highly respected the state was way above the national,
of career pathways available. Pratham Education Foundation at 99 weeks, due to which 28 percent
Prof. A.S. Seetharamu, a Beng- paints a dismal picture of the pitiable of pupils in government-run pri-
aluru-based educationist and former condition of school education in maries became totally disconnected
professor of education, Institute of West Bengal (pop.91 million), a state from academic activities because

32 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2024