Education

Three of the most common problems faced by government schools are:

1. Poor infrastructure
2. Shortage of teachers
3. Absenteeism among teachers and Poor quality of teaching

Poor infrastructure

State government’s education department has a defined budget. Some officials at the district headquarters take the decisions as to how the money should be used, without ascertaining the actual requirements of each school. Based on those decisions, purchases are made in bulk. Desks, for example, may be purchased in a given financial year for the whole state, irrespective of whether a school needs them or not. A school may have a more pressing need for ceiling fans than desks. But fans cannot be purchased because there is no specific budget for that. So a school remains in want of a commodity that it requires more than what it’s provide with from the top. The system is based on wrong priorities and gradually turns a self-respecting school into a beggar, always asking for something from the government.

In the proposed model of local self-governance, a school would present its requirements in a Gram Sabha. The Gram Sabha would assess how much money is available as against the requirement of that school. The people and school administrators will sit together and decide the most pressing requirements that must be met through available funds.

It is to be noted here that Gram Sabha, and not Sarpanch, is the most legitimate authority to make such a decision. Given such a power, most Sarpanchs turn corrupt. The entire process of purchase should be open and transparent. In an urban setting, Mohalla Sabha would take such a decision. Gram Sabha or Mohalla Sabha should also have the power to fix responsibility and penalize an official if any wrongdoing is detected in the purchase process.

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Shortage of teachers

At the municipal primary school at F2 block of Sunder Nagari in East Delhi, 10 teachers teach about 950 pupils, divided into 20 classes. No action has been taken on headmaster’s written requests pleading for more teachers to be made available to his school. There is a long process to create and fill new posts. Till that process is started and completed, pupils must suffer. The headmaster or the parents of the pupils have absolutely no say in expediting the process. Then there are allegations of widespread corruption in filling vacancies. The larger question is: can one expect a teacher, who got a job by paying bribes, to instil desirable values in pupils under his watch?

In the proposed model, a Gram Sabha or Mohalla Sabha will be able to appoint teachers in a school under its jurisdiction whenever the number of pupils justifies such an appointment without having to seek approvals from higher authorities. The Gram Sabha or Mohalla Sabha may temporarily pay the salary of a teacher that it has appointed from its own resources and could be compensated by the state government later.

Here too, the power to appoint teachers must not be given to elected representatives like a Sarpanch, who might be tempted into accepting bribes to favour a candidate or indulge in nepotism. The power should lie with the Gram Sabha or Mohalla Sabha.

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Absenteeism among teachers and poor quality of teaching

Most government schools, in rural and urban areas alike, face the problem of teachers, more than the pupils, playing truant. Either teachers do not attend school, or if they attend, they just sit under a tree and gossip. They may also decide to come late to the school and leave early.

Teachers feel emboldened to shirk their duties because they know that parents of their pupils, even very educated ones, can’t hold them accountable. If any parent has any problem with a teacher, all that he/she can do is to complain to the headmaster. Since parents of many pupils in government schools are poor, illiterate or semi-educated, headmasters often treat them with scorn. The parent either gives up or at most makes a complaint to the school inspector or to his higher ups including Education Director. Most of the times, his/her complaints are thrown into the rubbish bin.

A sympathetic education officer may even send an inspector for enquiry, who would be too willing to accept a bribe from the erring teacher in exchange for a favourable report. That’s the kind of fate that meets most complaints from parents against school teachers. As a consequence, parents stop making complaints.

In the proposed model, a Gram Sabha or Mohalla Sabha will have the power to withhold the salary of a teacher or impose financial penalty on him/her if parents of pupils are not satisfied with teacher’s performance. In 2002, when Madhya Pradesh gave Gram Sabha the power to withhold the salaries of a number of government officials, school teachers were compelled to mend their truant ways.

A Sarpanch or any other elected Panchayat members must be denied this power. Sarpanchs are known to turn corrupt and fix monthly bribes on a teacher as “protection money”. Even if a Sarpanch or Panchayat member does not turn corrupt, he/she is bound to get influenced by pressures from his relatives and friends. Therefore, the power must vest in the Gram Sabha or Mohalla Sabha and not with the elected representative.

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