Jagtial district, which has been recording the highest pass percentage in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams in the State for the past two years, is gearing up for a repeat performance. Or maybe even aiming higher to set a record with cent per cent results.
In 2017, it secured a pass percentage of 97.35 and followed it up with 97.56% the following year.
Carrot and stick
Before the 2017 exams, Collector A. Sharath had warned government school teachers that they would lose their annual increment if any student failed. In 2018, teachers came forward to submit a written undertaking stating they were ready to face any action if their students did not live up to expectations.
To achieve 100% results in SSC, the Collector had launched a programme called ‘Uttejam’ (motivation) for SSC students of all government educational institutions in the district. Last year, the district administration had spent around ₹15 lakh for providing snacks to students attending special evening classes. Now, the students themselves are coming forward to sponsor snacks for one day with their parents’ support.
Full support
With an eye on the target, each teacher was asked to adopt 10 students to conduct special classes. Further, some district officials were appointed as special officers to schools to monitor students’ performance through surprise inspection of special study hours. The Collector also conducted review meetings with headmasters and subject teachers of all the mandals and instructed them to strive to achieve cent per cent results.
Talking to The Hindu on Tuesday, Mr. Sharath said, “We are doing our best to achieve cent per cent results by motivating the teachers, parents and students.” He added that he was happy to see villagers, philanthropists and teachers volunteering to sponsor snacks for the students.
An incentive to schools that achieve cent per cent results is dual desks in classrooms, with the support of Nizamabad MP K. Kavitha.
Confident teachers
“Already, 70% of schools in the district have received dual desks for achieving cent per cent results during the last two years,” Mr. Sharath said, adding teachers were so confident about their students’ performance that they are giving in writing that they would forgo their annual increments if their students fail.