Board exams in the realm of private schools are an important threshold, which are to be cleared not just with good percentage but also with excellence (beyond expectation) for a better academic track record and future career options. Teachers, parents, students, principals, all the stakeholders conduct themselves with utmost sincerity in the period between December and March.
From extra classes, tuition hours, to mothers maintaining extra stocks of fruits, dry fruits, snacks, the student is given utmost attention and priority. Parents, elder brothers and sisters keep a constant check on study plans and completion of syllabus on time. Parent-Teacher- Association manifests in the most strongest way possible as to how the child is doing, what else is needed for a better academic result. Syllabus is completed well before the stipulated deadline and multiple revisions through at least two pre-board exams is made sure.
And from here on, the seeds for a dream/a career option are sown. Some of these become engineers, doctors, journalists, writers, pharmacists, managers, social workers, and the list goes on.
This is the life of a board exam student studying in a private school.
Is the story different for a board exam student studying in a government school of a tribal village named Dhol Ki Paati? Who are these students? Do they have dreams? What board exam means to them in their eight class?
Welcome to Dhol Ki Paati, a village 2 kms away from Udaipur City. Comprising of Gameti tribals, the third largest tribe in India after the Santhals and the Gonds, the Bhils-Gameti tribe are found in four states of India, namely- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Though spread all over the state, their major concentration in Rajasthan are in Udaipur, Banswara and Dungarpur districts.
At the moment, in this Government Upper Primary School of Dhol Ki Paati, there are twenty students in its eight class. Of which only ten-to-twelve are regular. So whose children are these students? What is their family background? Which strata of the economic class they belong to?
Reference
http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/T%20&%20T/T%20&%20T-04-0-000-000-2006-Web/T%20&%20T-04-2-077-160-2006-Abst-PDF/T%20&%20T-04-2-077-092-2006-031-Kerketta-R-A/T%20&%20T-04-2-077-092-2006-031-Kerketta-R-A-Text.pdf
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-more-boys-than-girls-dropping-out-of-schools-in-india-2112206
From extra classes, tuition hours, to mothers maintaining extra stocks of fruits, dry fruits, snacks, the student is given utmost attention and priority. Parents, elder brothers and sisters keep a constant check on study plans and completion of syllabus on time. Parent-Teacher- Association manifests in the most strongest way possible as to how the child is doing, what else is needed for a better academic result. Syllabus is completed well before the stipulated deadline and multiple revisions through at least two pre-board exams is made sure.
And from here on, the seeds for a dream/a career option are sown. Some of these become engineers, doctors, journalists, writers, pharmacists, managers, social workers, and the list goes on.
This is the life of a board exam student studying in a private school.
Is the story different for a board exam student studying in a government school of a tribal village named Dhol Ki Paati? Who are these students? Do they have dreams? What board exam means to them in their eight class?
Welcome to Dhol Ki Paati, a village 2 kms away from Udaipur City. Comprising of Gameti tribals, the third largest tribe in India after the Santhals and the Gonds, the Bhils-Gameti tribe are found in four states of India, namely- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Though spread all over the state, their major concentration in Rajasthan are in Udaipur, Banswara and Dungarpur districts.
At the moment, in this Government Upper Primary School of Dhol Ki Paati, there are twenty students in its eight class. Of which only ten-to-twelve are regular. So whose children are these students? What is their family background? Which strata of the economic class they belong to?
These
students come from economically marginalized sections wherein, their parents
are involved in low paying jobs of being construction workers, domestic
helpers, factory workers, commercial taxi drivers and farm laborers, among
other myriad roles.
It’s end
of March. Board exams started in early March and have finished now. But their
syllabus is still not complete. The concept of revision does not exist here. They
still are not able to read sentences in English, leave alone successfully
attempting comprehension passages. The wonders of science and its relation with
our daily life have yet not been taken to them. Their pencils have yet not
drawn the meandering boundaries of states, nations, and places within their own
state. They are afraid to express their thoughts in front of teachers, leave
alone protesting about non-completion of their syllabus.
May be
the parents should check in? The community is aware only at the superficial
level that there is a government school and we can send our children there. But
beyond this, they are in darkness when it comes to knowing the value of
education.
The
science teacher was on leave for four months due to a medical emergency. No
substitute was appointed knowing that the entire half of the syllabus was to be
done. Till date, there is no appointed teacher for Mathematics. English teacher
has been irregular.
Most of
the students came to school daily in the hope of being taught. Most stopped
coming as they lost interest and experienced disregard for their time and of
their presence in the school. Having an enrolment figure of 436 students on its
school board, this school has a large number of irregular students.
What is the consequence for such sorry state of affairs of an school?
Disinterest in studies
When a school fails to serve its basic duty of rendering quality education to its students, the most serious and long term consequence is mounting disillusionment towards studies in the child. As a result, initiatives to study or pay attention in the class start dying down.
Absenteeism & Irregularity
Since school as a physical space has got no offerings for the child, he/she/other gender doesn't see any incentive for coming to school or sitting for seven-to-eight hours. For the kid, the outside environment away from the fearful walls of the classroom where there is no love but mostly physical punishments is a much better space to while away time. From goat and cow grazing to collecting fire woods at home, the greens, the hills, the blue sky offer a lot to him or her.
Eventual Drop-out
Due to poor performance and constant negative remarks emerging from the teacher, the student eventually drop-outs. From here, the links towards education, towards growth break loose.
End- result- the-origin
In the end, they go back to their roots. Their father was a domestic helper, their mother was a farm labourer. So they enrol themselves in the same rut. Poor wages, constant exploitation at the hands of the employer, government officials, would mark their life. They would get married, have pre-mature and unhealthy babies and eventually die in the same cycle.
May be the community could have kicked in, when their board exam was being taken for granted, by the school authorities?
This is a far fetched dream for a community like Dhol Ki Paati, which is not at all aware of the value, or the need for education. In this community, the stakeholders are busy meeting the both ends. This is where a project for a nation-building fails when its population is still in darkness about raising its voice, about fighting for its children's needs and rights. This is how government officials, having an income of around fifty-to-sixty thousands are taking advantage at the cost of future of the nation.
The situation is grim. Lot of work needs to be done. Having policies and schemes are better but lot of work needs to be done towards awareness. Awareness for education, awareness for a better life style, for better health, are required before the success of policies and schemes are to be enjoyed.
Reference
http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/T%20&%20T/T%20&%20T-04-0-000-000-2006-Web/T%20&%20T-04-2-077-160-2006-Abst-PDF/T%20&%20T-04-2-077-092-2006-031-Kerketta-R-A/T%20&%20T-04-2-077-092-2006-031-Kerketta-R-A-Text.pdf
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-more-boys-than-girls-dropping-out-of-schools-in-india-2112206
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