| Most educationists shuddered as they read
the news report in major Indian dailies on September 1 that the state
government of Maharashtra had decided to grant mass promotions to all
students of Class XI to Class XII. |
| |
| It only pointed to an inevitable worsening
of educational certification standards. The Association of Mumbai
Junior College Teachers is aghast and has protested against the move. |
| |
| But cynics don’t see the government
relenting. They know that the recent move has a history that points to
a total lack of vision in respect of the educational system in the
state. |
| |
| They are aware of how similar moves were
made seven years ago. The state government had then decreed that no
student in classes I to V would be detained by the local school
authorities. |
| |
| In effect, the state government had
announced a mass promotion scheme for all students studying in any
primary school class right from I to V. |
| |
| Of course, the state government justified
such a policy on the grounds that many parents had complained against
the arbitrary standards for promotion that each school had adopted. |
| |
| It also claimed that young, tender minds
should be allowed to explore their surroundings and discover things for
themselves, and not be regimented by an examination system of
education. |
| |
| Certainly, such justifications sounded
lofty. But in reality, such misplaced loftiness has only resulted in
the further deterioration of educational standards in the state. |
| |
Horrifying reality
How bad is the situation? Consider, for instance, a survey of 34
private, English-medium schools in Mumbai, conducted by E-convergence
Technologies Limited (ETL) in the first half of 2002 (the author is
closely associated with this company). |
| |
| All the schools were located in the
not-so-affluent, north-eastern part of the city. By selecting private
schools, ETL hoped to ensure that the exercise would not come up with
distorted findings caused by the clubbing together of schools run by
the municipal corporation and schools run by private educational
trusts. Likewise, by narrowing the choice to English-medium schools,
ETL hoped to normalise the sample base even further. |
| |
| A total of 16,500 students were covered in
this survey. Each child was asked to answer 10 questions in English and
10 in mathematics (many of the questions were as simple as putting the
numbers in the right order). The age group covered was from 11 to 13
years (classes VI to VIII). |
| |
| The choice of English and maths was based
on the growing awareness that any child — in order to become employable
— must have oral and quantitative skills. |
| |
| The first helps him articulate effectively
what he wishes to express, and the latter is the first step towards
logical thinking. The results were startling. Over 60 per cent failed
in mathematics and over 70 per cent in English. |
| |
Worse than Bihar
Initially, there was an apprehension that perhaps the questions in the
quiz contest were too difficult. But then, just a couple of months
later, came the two-volume Probe Report on Education In India published
by the Oxford University Press. |
| |
| The report had compiled together other
similar tests conducted by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in
four states — all aimed at finding out if students had the language and
mathematical skills they would need at the secondary-school levels
(table given as a
jpeg file; to view
it please click here). |
| |
| In all the states where such tests were
administered — Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra — the
failing rates were in excess of 60 per cent, going up to well over 70
per cent in the case of Maharashtra. In effect, such data showed that
Maharashtra had a higher percentage of failures than even Bihar. |
| |
| Under normal circumstances that does appear
a bit incredulous. Maharashtra is believed to be way ahead of Bihar on
all counts. But all these tests and the compiled results point to a
malaise in Maharashtra that the state government has only been
aggravating year after year. |
| |
| That could also explain why many recruits
at lower levels, where numeric and verbal skills are critically
important, invariably come from other states. |
| |
| And this state of rot began setting in more
than 30 years ago. For instance, this writer was an examiner for school
and university examinations in Mumbai for almost 10 years from 1973 to
1982. |
| |
| Even then, it was a common practice for the
local moderator to advise each examiner to ensure that the number of
candidates who had secured failing marks did not go beyond 40 per cent
of the total. In many cases, such advice could not be implemented as
the educational standards of the candidates was far too poor. |
| |
Grace as disgrace
But, even then, the author and other examiners like him were aware of
the futility of failing such students. Irrespective of whether the
candidates were failed, or promoted, the moderators invariably ensured
that they would give grace marks to all the students across the board
to ensure that the number of failed students was never too large a
percentage. |
| |
| After this act of charity, the answer
papers and the marksheets would go to the state moderators, where the
results would be further “moderated” to ensure that not too many
failed. Even during those years it was evident to examiners that anyone
securing 25 per cent marks had a fair chance of being promoted. |
| |
| Now consider what happens when mass
promotion is introduced. Assuming an average 10 per cent failure rate
for each class — half the rate of 20 to 25 per cent that the state
government finds acceptable — there is a good chance of the filtering
out of weaker students year after year. |
| |
| Consequently, 100 students appearing for
the Class I exams would get reduced to 90 in Class II, and then to 81
in Class III, 73 in Class IV, and further to 66 in Class V. |
| |
| By abolishing all exams from classes I to
V, the state government had ensured that as many as 35 per cent of the
students in Class V were those who did not deserve to be there. Since
schools would be loath to “fail” 35 per cent of their students in Class
VI, the pressure on schools to cope with weaker students had become
that much greater. |
| |
Opening the floodgates
Not surprisingly, this showed up in the tests that ETL administered in
Mumbai. Compounding this was the slackening of controls that parents,
too, had on their children. |
| |
| Aware that automatic mass promotion had
become the norm, many parents took their children’s studies lightly,
and began putting pressure on the child only from Class VI onwards. The
child in the secondary school was unfairly burdened, and the
deterioration of standards became inevitable. |
| |
| Such an approach has caused a large number
of students, who do not match the proposed educational standards, to
appear for the SSC (Class X) examinations. And since grace marks have
been invariably granted by examination moderators under an age-old
convention, the consequences are predictable. Many students who do not
deserve to get the SSC passing certificate will get promoted
nonetheless. |
| |
| These students then go to college. This
would normally have been the next quality-control check post where
college managements could decide which students were competent enough
to appear for the HSC (Class XII) examinations. Now the state wants to
do away with this check post as well. |
| |
| And in the absence of small checkpoints at
each and every stage, the state now expects the major state level exams
at Class X and Class XII to stem the rot! Wishful thinking. And the
consequences will have to be borne by the government and the corporate
sector that will have to find some way of employing this youth. |
| |
