The New Nation - Internet Edition

A REPORT on education watch 2006 was presented before a gathering at the LGED auditorium in the city the other day. The report has been prepared by the Campaign for Popular Education CAMPE, a private research organisation that collected substantive data on the subject. The data have been collected from primary and secondary schools in urban and rural areas of the country. The education watch has found wide variations in public funding of schools in urban and rural areas and highlighted the effects thereof on students and parents.

The report included data on public expenditure per student per annum in government primary schools and ebtedace madrashas. The expenditure per student in primary schools and madrashas remains quite disparate. There is also difference between higher allocation for government primary and secondary schools compared to the lower allocation for non-government schools. As it is, the ultimate burden on education of students remains on the shoulders of their guardians. The payment of fees and purchase of books, bags, dresses and paper, pen and instrument boxes turns heavy for parents, especially for those among the low income groups.

That being so, the ultimate achievement of the Millennium Development Goal to extend free and compulsory education to all children by 2015 would be uncertain. The authors of the Education Watch 2006 report conducted the study on three hundred and thirteen institutions and over sixteen thousand and five hundred students of primary and secondary level. They have also noted the prevailing practice of majority of teachers of holding coaching classes, either in the campus or at their residences for high private tuition fees. The end of providing education to children and enabling them to become technically qualified persons thus remains a lofty goal beyond the reach of the people and the government. The figures on students failing to pass in annual examinations and on those who opt out of schools may go up.

It is, therefore, important to note the mismatch in schooling and ultimate education of children in the country. The findings of the Campaign for Popular Education study should be brought under consideration of relevant government agencies. More detailed and substantive data on the education system have to be collected, if necessary by assigning the task to competent research institutions. Measures for broadening the base of education and removing malpractices like private coaching by the teachers of schools and madrashas plus the realisation of high rates of coaching fees have to be taken forthwith.