Quality in Education

Editorial:-
Education has been promised a quality enhancement by the State Government for its current term. This was also a specific commitment in the last term, and while some concerted efforts directly inspiring the students [with the CM’s Merit Scholarship] and working towards improving teaching quality [with higher mandatory qualifications and extended trainings for teachers] were attempted, quality, everyone should admit, remains awaited. No one expected this to be an easy task, and the fact that it remains a policy commitment pursuit for the new government proves as much. Education, it needs to be mentioned here, was also unsettled, like many other processes, in Sikkim by the 2011 Earthquake. The damaged infrastructure has still not been completely restored/ repaired and one cannot expect any substantial quality improvements when some classes are still operating out of temporary shacks. That said, quality is invariably a consistent pursuit, a continuing quest with the bar rising higher with every perceptible improvement. More than a cut and dried end result, it is thus the milestones crossed that are important aspects of such pursuits. It will be for the students to attest how the process goes. As for the new government, one hopes that its selection of a senior legislator and a former Minister [who has also handled the HRD portfolio once in the past], is a sign of its earnestness to improve the quality of education delivered in Sikkim schools. Being a fourth-time MLA and returning to the Cabinet as HRD Minister should infuse the new incumbent’s performance with a zeal to deliver, so let us begin on the premise that the earnestness will be there. But education, unfortunately, is in such a mess, not just in Sikkim, but all over the country, that earnestness alone will not suffice. This will only be an expression of intent, from which will have to be chiseled a coherent plan, persistent monitoring, constant appraisals and timely corrections.
Tough? No one ever said it would be easy, but if there is one State in India which can revolutionise government aided education, it is Sikkim. Its size, existence of a substantial pool of educators, ready infrastructure and reasonably well-exposed students, require only clear direction, commitment and will, to turn things around. It is definitely doable in Sikkim. But before one even begins the process of improving the quality of education imparted in schools here, a major exercise at data crunching will have to be undertaken. The State Government has begun its new term in perfect timing for such an initiative. The Board examination results have been recently announced, and this performance, in the absence of any other benchmark, should be the place to begin the effort from. The performance needs to be tabulated, not just in the generalities of pass-percentages, but subject-wise performances at various schools, with the availability of teachers at individual schools and how that reflected in overall performances factored in. Performances should ideally be mapped locationally with details on nearness [or remoteness] to urban centres, and then details like attendance records [of teachers and students both], even access to computers and exposure to internet. These are only some suggested parameters on the basis of which to collect the grand data on education in Sikkim. Bringing in professionals as consultants to make them refine the data will be a good investment into Sikkim’s future. This might appear to be a very complicated task, but most of this information is already available at the schools, it is just not shared. All that the Department will need to do is prepare a format, send it to the schools and then tabulate the data in the head office. Once the figures are at hand, the thrust areas requiring policy-level interventions will become obvious, and it will surprise no one if most of the corrective surgery is required at the administrative level of manpower management.
With this basic exercise achieved, educational reforms will become possible and the attention can then shift to quality. Fail to get even the basics done, and Sikkim can be assured of a commitment to education limited to infrastructure development and upgradation of existing schools. Of course, kids will still pass their board exams, some will even do exceedingly well in academics, but that will continue to be on individual merit, universal access to uniformly quality education will remain unattained.