Schools where children surprisingly cleared board every year!
11-Jun-2025 13:00:48 PM
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Yesterday's TOI published an article focusing on the failure of some schools from Haryana where almost nobody cleared boards. It brought many unpleasant memories alive compelling me to pen a couple of them. This was the phase I had not started writing, but some impressions just refused to fade away.
We periodically keep visiting Jalgaon district for some work. Usually I am a silent spectator, but my brain continues to register the things around me without fail, and they keep disturbing me repeatedly. When I read the special report in TOI about the poor conditions prevailing in some schools in Haryana, related to the availability of teachers and infrastructure, decided to share my experience from my state, Maharashtra.
Usually it is a couple of days stay at an MTDC resort near Ajintha caves. In the evening it is a routine to go to a small dhaba run by a middle aged lady who after the death of her husband, stays with her parents.
They help her a lot in the dhaba too. She has a son, and when we met him for the first time he was studying in a college. He was a second-year B.Sc student, and Chemistry was his principle subject. ( He pronounced chemistry with the ch sound, not k sound, honestly and blissfully ignorant about it )I casually asked him as his college is located at a distant place, his entire day must be spent on attending the lectures and practicals. He told me in Marathi, that he hardly goes to college, just goes to college for a few days and completes his practical work and manage to succeed. ( Without knowing anything about the theoretical aspect ) The entire discussion was going in the wrong direction, so I stopped. Next time when we met him, he was in his final year, and wanted to enroll in the master's degree course. " What do you want to do later? "I asked him. Enthusiastically but casually he answered, "oh, that's not an issue you know, ". " Would eventually be placed as a collector somewhere ". I dared not to enquire and continue the dialogue anymore. Poor mother was so proud of the brilliant prospects of his would be Post Graduate son, it made me speechless. Later for some time he was selling a dream of plum government job. He disappeared for a couple of years, was somewhere in Gujarat in search of some job, and failed to get the satisfactory role.
Now is working with some school as a peon, who is not on the government roll. Is married now, and has a daughter. Still cannot calculate the bill , his mother who probably has a primary level education calculates faster and more accurately. The second memory A nearby village has a high school established by the villagers, as the children had to walk a long distance to attend one. ( Later I found this is the well known reason to get permission for a school ) The management insisted as I visit the village often, I must interact with the 10th standard students and discuss their career options. It really made me nervous, though a teacher, had no experience of talking to remote area children. I had no knowledge of their aspirations, choices and dreams. The experience turned out to be life time memory. The villagers had managed to build a small pakka building for the school by that time, but the work was not completed yet. They were working in a phase wise manner, so only one class had the tiles on the flooring. The stairs and the rest of the rooms were totally unfinished.
No flooring, no paint, no sufficient benches even. This work was in that state for some years, as the management planned to finish on the availability of funds. Tried my level best to establish some sort of rapport , but the children were quietly staring at me. They didn't look of their age even, frail figures, without any expression and silent eyes. For the first time an experienced teacher like me was short of words which would connect me with them. Completed a kind of monologue, the experience completely shattered me, and till the end could not make them speak freely. We went to the teachers room, it was adorned with a longish table and a cupboard with some glassware. The proud science teacher explained how the room is converted into a lab during the board exam when external examiners conduct the practical exam. Had no courage to ask where is the regular lab then. There was a small space with a couple of computers placed on the table, I could guess it was the computer lab. The machines had not been touched for ages probably. Obviously had no guts to confirm again.
The school had sufficient teaching and non-teaching staff along with the computer teachers. All were government approved posts, and all were qualified. " We have good relations with the education department, " quipped the principal. The result was excellent, the one who stood first had scored more than 95%. One student failed in computer test, and I felt the mocking tone of the teacher. " Who fails like this? We missed the 100% mark because of him. " , the teacher shrugged and remarked. We spent almost three hours in the school and then decided to visit the well-known family of the basti. Quickly most of the teachers got themselves accomodated in two cars,( almost all of them had cars ) and accompanied us leaving the classes unattended. I was completely lost and stressed, struggling to find words for some kind of meaningful interaction in vain. Some years ago I saw a new school building by the road to the village, it was an English medium school. Now the upper strata families send their children to the English medium school. They are named as lord Rama ( रामा ) or lord Ganesha ( गणेशा ) school .
Obviously had no courage to visit or enquire about the school in detail. The children now tell in which class they study, with parents watching them with Joy and Pride. No one speaks the language of their instructions in the school. After reading the article today the question that I asked to myself is how almost all the students manage to clear boards all these years from such schools and colleges? We have all the systems like inspection every year , careful scrutiny at many levels, submission of papers, and remarks officially recorded, but still the situation hardly changes. Does the credit be given to the natural ability of the children? Or one needs to investigate and delve deeper. We need an honest overhauling of all the systems,but education first. Vidya madhav Deshpande
They help her a lot in the dhaba too. She has a son, and when we met him for the first time he was studying in a college. He was a second-year B.Sc student, and Chemistry was his principle subject. ( He pronounced chemistry with the ch sound, not k sound, honestly and blissfully ignorant about it )I casually asked him as his college is located at a distant place, his entire day must be spent on attending the lectures and practicals. He told me in Marathi, that he hardly goes to college, just goes to college for a few days and completes his practical work and manage to succeed. ( Without knowing anything about the theoretical aspect ) The entire discussion was going in the wrong direction, so I stopped. Next time when we met him, he was in his final year, and wanted to enroll in the master's degree course. " What do you want to do later? "I asked him. Enthusiastically but casually he answered, "oh, that's not an issue you know, ". " Would eventually be placed as a collector somewhere ". I dared not to enquire and continue the dialogue anymore. Poor mother was so proud of the brilliant prospects of his would be Post Graduate son, it made me speechless. Later for some time he was selling a dream of plum government job. He disappeared for a couple of years, was somewhere in Gujarat in search of some job, and failed to get the satisfactory role.
Now is working with some school as a peon, who is not on the government roll. Is married now, and has a daughter. Still cannot calculate the bill , his mother who probably has a primary level education calculates faster and more accurately. The second memory A nearby village has a high school established by the villagers, as the children had to walk a long distance to attend one. ( Later I found this is the well known reason to get permission for a school ) The management insisted as I visit the village often, I must interact with the 10th standard students and discuss their career options. It really made me nervous, though a teacher, had no experience of talking to remote area children. I had no knowledge of their aspirations, choices and dreams. The experience turned out to be life time memory. The villagers had managed to build a small pakka building for the school by that time, but the work was not completed yet. They were working in a phase wise manner, so only one class had the tiles on the flooring. The stairs and the rest of the rooms were totally unfinished.
No flooring, no paint, no sufficient benches even. This work was in that state for some years, as the management planned to finish on the availability of funds. Tried my level best to establish some sort of rapport , but the children were quietly staring at me. They didn't look of their age even, frail figures, without any expression and silent eyes. For the first time an experienced teacher like me was short of words which would connect me with them. Completed a kind of monologue, the experience completely shattered me, and till the end could not make them speak freely. We went to the teachers room, it was adorned with a longish table and a cupboard with some glassware. The proud science teacher explained how the room is converted into a lab during the board exam when external examiners conduct the practical exam. Had no courage to ask where is the regular lab then. There was a small space with a couple of computers placed on the table, I could guess it was the computer lab. The machines had not been touched for ages probably. Obviously had no guts to confirm again.
The school had sufficient teaching and non-teaching staff along with the computer teachers. All were government approved posts, and all were qualified. " We have good relations with the education department, " quipped the principal. The result was excellent, the one who stood first had scored more than 95%. One student failed in computer test, and I felt the mocking tone of the teacher. " Who fails like this? We missed the 100% mark because of him. " , the teacher shrugged and remarked. We spent almost three hours in the school and then decided to visit the well-known family of the basti. Quickly most of the teachers got themselves accomodated in two cars,( almost all of them had cars ) and accompanied us leaving the classes unattended. I was completely lost and stressed, struggling to find words for some kind of meaningful interaction in vain. Some years ago I saw a new school building by the road to the village, it was an English medium school. Now the upper strata families send their children to the English medium school. They are named as lord Rama ( रामा ) or lord Ganesha ( गणेशा ) school .
Obviously had no courage to visit or enquire about the school in detail. The children now tell in which class they study, with parents watching them with Joy and Pride. No one speaks the language of their instructions in the school. After reading the article today the question that I asked to myself is how almost all the students manage to clear boards all these years from such schools and colleges? We have all the systems like inspection every year , careful scrutiny at many levels, submission of papers, and remarks officially recorded, but still the situation hardly changes. Does the credit be given to the natural ability of the children? Or one needs to investigate and delve deeper. We need an honest overhauling of all the systems,but education first. Vidya madhav Deshpande
Bharati Web
Prof. Vidya Deshpande
Professor Vidya Deshpande has had a journey of more than four decades in the field of education. Her main expertise is in the subject of Philosophy, and she has worked as a teacher of philosophy and logic with Nowrosjee Wadia college for 36 years. She has been associated with the Janakalyan Blood bank for last for 38 years and has also carried out the responsibility as a management committee member of Karve Stree Shikshan Sanstha for 10 years. Her special fields of interest are Philosophy of social sciences, school education, development of skills for self reliance, and top up skills to make students profession ready,
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