The district panchayat here has called upon Education Minister C. Ravindranath and the Higher Secondary Directorate to take serious note of Pathanamthitta scoring the State’s lowest pass percentage in this year’s higher secondary examinations though it had the highest pass percentage, 99.33 %, in the SSLC examinations.
George Mammen Kondoor, district panchayat vice president, told The Hindu that the Higher Secondary Directorate, school authorities, and parents were collectively responsible for the bleak performance of students in the Plus Two examinations.
Mr. Kondoor said he had conducted a survey-cum-study in his division, Kozhencherry, and found the situation at many government schools alarming.
The district panchayat vice president said he had visited houses of many students who had failed to clear the examinations.
“One of the boys at Government Higher Secondary School, Ayroor, who failed in the Plus Two examinations was a brilliant student who could score A+ for six subjects in the SSLC examinations. He belongs to a poor farm worker’s family. After joining the school, he was attracted to campus politics and failed to attend classes properly. Lack of guidance and support from the school authorities, coupled with his poor family background, was what ultimately contributed to his failure,” said Mr. Kondoor.
Substance abuse
Mr. Kondoor said the cases of various other failed students were not much different.
Many were suspected to have fallen into the ‘trap’ laid by the ganja and drug lobby, Mr. Kondoor said.
Substance abuse among students had become a major threat posing higher secondary schools, especially those in the government sector, he said.
Mr. Kondoor said that many students who had failed in the examinations belonged to economically poor families whose parents struggled to make their ends meet.
‘Provide food’
He said the government should take steps to provide food twice a day to children from poor families.
The State could do it in association with grama panchayats, Parent-Teacher Associations, district administration and the Education Department, he said.
Steps should be taken to open an office of the Higher Secondary Directorate in Pathanamthitta, besides appointing counsellors to give proper guidance and counselling to students, he said.
Mr. Kondoor said appropriate measures should be initiated to check the growing problem of substance abuse and alcoholism among schoolchildren.
The district panchayat vice president said that the school authorities should take necessary steps to give special coaching to students found to be weak in English, science and mathematics.