Wearing a stern expression almost always, the teachers in Punjab may soon find themselves being rapped on their knuckles for poor results of their students.Virtually turning the tables on the teachers, Punjab Education Minister Daljeet Singh Cheema has called a “special” meeting on June 24 of 10 English teachers from all districts whose students have displayed poor results in the recently-held Class X exams.
The meeting would primarily focus on the “loopholes” in the State’s education system, along with the reasons and way out for the same. For students in Punjab’s Government schools, English subject has remained a tough nut to crack. Only a few manage to pass the exam, with even less number of students scoring respectable marks.
Figure this, out of more than 3.78 lakh students appearing in Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) Class X exam this year, more than 80,000 students have failed in English subject or had compartment. In Mohali district, having highest literacy rate of 85 per cent, 31 per cent of Class-X students in PSEB, failed to clear English exam. The education officials cite the late introduction of English subject in government schools resulting in weak base in the subject, and also “no-fail” policy till Class-VIII under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
“Most of the students in Government schools don’t take their studies seriously as they know they would be promoted to the next class. More stress is being laid on Punjabi than English. In higher classes, especially in Class X Board exam, students find it hard to deal with English subject and mostly fail due to poor base in English,” a senior Education Department official told The Pioneer.
To deal with the situation, the State Education Minister has summoned 10 teachers from each district whose students have scored lowest marks in Class X English exam. For the purpose, all the District Education Officers (DEOs) have been informed via official letters, asking them to prepare a comprehensive list of all Government schools having details of marks scored by students in Class-X English exam, along with the names of English teachers for comparison and finding out the teachers with lowest scores.
“The main intent for the meeting is to find out the loopholes, where we are lacking in teaching the English subject and how we can deal with it by discussing things with the teachers who have the first hand information,” said the official. The official maintained that several times, the issue to reintroduce Board examinations in Class VII has been discussed. “Due to no fail policy, students have become non-serious and quality of education in the State’s Government schools is declining. On the other hand, the private schools are focusing on English subject from the very beginning,” the official added.
In this regard, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had also taken up the issue of amending RTE Act of passing the students till class VIII with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Even the State’s legislators had also expressed their concern over the students’ poor base in English, and had stressed that knowledge of English language is inevitable to prepare our students to face future challenges. They suggested teaching the Government school students English language along with Punjabi from the start, and should start from the pre-primary classes. At that time, the State Education Minister had opined to strengthen anganwari centres “where students be taught English right from the starting level”.