Even God cannot save Govt school students: Madras HC judge

Chennai: Alarmed by the phenomenon of falling educational standards in government schools, the Madras high court has decided to do something about the continuous decline in the quality of education as well as the strength of students in government schools, especially in rural areas. In an effort to wake up the authorities and goad them into action, the court has posed 20 queries to be answered by the state government by July 14.

“Unless teachers are committed to teaching the students, our future would not be bright. With many of teachers not reporting promptly to duty, with the concentration on their side business, even God cannot save government school students especially rural students. There is no use in opening English medium sections without revamping the system in total”, observed Justice N. Kirubakaran.

The judge posted to July 14, further hearing of a petition from Pasupathy Aided Middle School in Thanjavur district, a government-aided school, which challenged an order of the authorities rejecting its request to start an English medium section of the school.

The judge said in the order that the authorities stated the English medium sections were permitted to be started in the government schools only to improve English knowledge of the students studying in schools located in rural areas. The decision of the government has been stated in a 2012 G.O, by which permission has been granted to start an English medium section in 320 schools so as to benefit about 22,400 students. Though the government has understood the necessity of English knowledge for the students, it seems appropriate hands were not employed by the government in English medium sections, the judge added.

The judge said the very fact government teachers were admitting their children in private schools indicates that the standard of teaching should be high in private schools, which the teachers themselves fail to give to their own students in the government schools.

“Many of the secondary grade teachers working in government schools are stated to have purchased diplomas in letterpad teacher training institutions, which were prohibited by this court and confirmed by the SC, without any proper training in education and employment of the said diploma holders is stated to be one of the main reasons for lack of quality teaching”, the judge added.

The judge said it was common knowledge that many government school teachers, especially in rural areas were doing side business in the name of their family members, like real estate, finance and playing the stock market without concentrating on teaching.

In cases of late coming or blatant absence of teachers, it was said, if any, action was sought to be taken against the erring teachers by the higher officials, the actions were said to be resisted by the teachers’ union/ associations sponsored by political, communal, religious parties/ organisations sponsored by political, communal, religious parties/organisations, which was a sorry state of affairs, leading to indiscipline and lack of accountability.

Though government teachers were paid high salaries and private school teachers were paid less with more hours of teaching, quality and standard of education in government schools was low, the judge pointed out.