Abysmal record: Only 10% students in Telangana’s govt schools underwent pre-school
Preeti Biswas | TNN | Feb 13, 2019, 08:21 IST
(Representative image)HYDERABAD: Shocking as it may sound, a paltry 10.56% students in Telangana, enrolled in class 1 cross government schools, have attended pre-school, owing to lack of pre-primary sections. According to the ministry of HRD figures, of the over 30,000 government schools in Telangana, only 315 have a pre-primary section — LGK and UKG that comprise the formative years of a child’s early education.
Topping the charts where the percentage of students in class 1 with pre-school experience are states and Union territories like Haryana (83.55%), Delhi (78.15%) and Puducherry (52.06%).
The absence of pre-primary sections in government schools has led to a drop in enrolment, say senior officials. “Parents with children in the three to five-year age bracket opt for private schools that have LGK and UKG,” said Chava Ravi, general secretary of Telangana United Teachers Federation. But, did the teachers sound the government on the serious drawback? “We have submitted multiple representations to the government since 2014 urging it to bridge the gap, but our pleas have fallen on its’ deaf ears,” Ravi rued.
Enrolment figures tabled in the state legislative assembly by former deputy CM and education minister Kadiyam Srihari in 2018 tantamount to these worries. From 27.92 lakh students enrolled in government schools in the 2015-16 academic year, the figure had dropped to 27.61 lakhs in 2017-18. Lack of English medium government schools and absence of pre-primary section forced parents to enrol their children in private schools.
The 315 schools that have pre-primary sections are not far from problems. Anganwadi centres that are merely daycare centres focus more on the nutritional growth of children. “The failure to tap students at a young age has affected their learning abilities,” a senior teacher surmised.
Teachers are beset with bigger challenges on how to tune the children. “Since there are no pre-primary classes, we are forced to teach basics such as alphabets and numbers to class 1 students. This affects their learning abilities as they are way behind their counterparts in private schools,” opined Vanaja Chary, a government school teacher.
To overcome the lacune, the government is now forcing the teachers to take an additional three-hour classes on reading, writing and arithmetic for students of classes 3, 6 and 8 who have poor learning and grasping skills.
Topping the charts where the percentage of students in class 1 with pre-school experience are states and Union territories like Haryana (83.55%), Delhi (78.15%) and Puducherry (52.06%).
The absence of pre-primary sections in government schools has led to a drop in enrolment, say senior officials. “Parents with children in the three to five-year age bracket opt for private schools that have LGK and UKG,” said Chava Ravi, general secretary of Telangana United Teachers Federation. But, did the teachers sound the government on the serious drawback? “We have submitted multiple representations to the government since 2014 urging it to bridge the gap, but our pleas have fallen on its’ deaf ears,” Ravi rued.
Enrolment figures tabled in the state legislative assembly by former deputy CM and education minister Kadiyam Srihari in 2018 tantamount to these worries. From 27.92 lakh students enrolled in government schools in the 2015-16 academic year, the figure had dropped to 27.61 lakhs in 2017-18. Lack of English medium government schools and absence of pre-primary section forced parents to enrol their children in private schools.
The 315 schools that have pre-primary sections are not far from problems. Anganwadi centres that are merely daycare centres focus more on the nutritional growth of children. “The failure to tap students at a young age has affected their learning abilities,” a senior teacher surmised.
Teachers are beset with bigger challenges on how to tune the children. “Since there are no pre-primary classes, we are forced to teach basics such as alphabets and numbers to class 1 students. This affects their learning abilities as they are way behind their counterparts in private schools,” opined Vanaja Chary, a government school teacher.
To overcome the lacune, the government is now forcing the teachers to take an additional three-hour classes on reading, writing and arithmetic for students of classes 3, 6 and 8 who have poor learning and grasping skills.
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