Summer vacation is over and school bells are ringing loud and clear. Students gearing up for the fresh academic year are divided — some hate the awkwardness they feel going in front of the class and introducing themselves while others can’t wait for this ‘all-fun-no-studies’ initial phase.
Knowing that students arrive in their new classrooms with a mix of emotions and most of them are nervous, teachers do their bit to make them feel at home through fun ice-breakers and ‘get-to-know-your-friends’ activities.
The Department of School Education is the largest among the 200 departments in the State. It focuses on primary and secondary education besides arranging to train teachers. As part of reforms in the sector, a slew of measures have been initiated under different schemes to provide access to primary education for all children in the 5-15 age group, ensure enrolment of out-of-school children, check drop-out rate, ensure quality education in the classroom, provide mid-day meals to children in primary and upper primary schools and distribute textbooks free of cost in the government-run schools.
This year, the education wing is giving tough competition to the private schools by constantly reminding people of the new frills being added to the State schools to upgrade them on a par with the corporate institutions. The cost factor, the size of the class and availability of new facilities besides free distribution of books, uniform and meals the officials offer the parents.
Private schools, known to provide infrastructure facilities and up-to-date technology compared to schools in the public sector, also have a reputation of charging high fees. Some of them collect very high fee and also increase it every year by certain percentage. “Their promise of holistic education designed to promote overall physical, mental and social development ensnares parents,” says Syamala Lakshmi, who has a daughter studying in seventh class in a corporate school. Abdullah Khan, yet another parent of a ninth class girl, says the exorbitant fee charged by the management of his daughter’s school does not match with the facilities provided to students.
Andhra Pradesh has 46,923 government schools with 39,76,984 students and 1,94,050 teachers against 14,605 schools in the private sector that has 28,70313 students and 94,015 teachers.
Textbooks distribution
Students in the corporate sector are all excited to begin a fresh academic year with new books neatly wrapped in brown covers and stickers with their names on them. But not all of their counterparts in the government sector will experience this joy when their schools reopen on June 12.
Amid allegations of inordinate delay in getting the textbooks ready for the new academic year, Director, Textbooks, Krishna Reddy clarifies: “Distribution of books is on. Of the 2.7 crore textbooks required to be printed, 33 lakh have already been supplied. We are trying to deliver 15 lakh books each day to the district godowns from where the respective DEOs will send them to schools.”
By June 12, he says, 60% of the textbooks would be delivered while the remaining 40% would be ready by June 20. “We are speeding up the process.”
Exam pattern
While the Education Department is coming up with innovative models to make the classroom space interesting and inspiring, leaders of the teachers’ union accuse the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) of ‘too much of experimentation’ with the examination system. The officials seem to be unmindful of the fact that such frequent changes can jeopardies the students’ academic career, they warn.
“Deployment of teachers for non-teaching purpose should be completely avoided. Last year, of the 220 working days, 40 were lost on non-teaching duties. When survey outcomes project poor show by students of the government schools, the teachers are made easy scapegoats,” rues P. Babu Reddy, general secretary of the AP United Teachers’ Federation, insisting that the SCERT should design a standardised exam pattern.