Times
of India: Ahmedabad: Friday, 08 January 2016.
The Gujarat
government is flagging off `Gunotsav' - an initiative of the state education
department to improve the quality of education, on Thursday . An alarming
revelation emerged from an RTI application, that the state has apparently
failed in this purpose as around 48% of students at municipal-run schools don't
reach to class VIII.
On Thursday ,
chief minister Anandiben Patel will visit Kherpada primary school in Sagbara
taluka of Narmada district to evaluate government-run schools. This time, the
CM has decided to organize Gramsabhas (village meetings) along with the
Gunotsav.
The entire
council of ministers, secretaries, IAS officers and 300 officials of the state
will participate in the threeday state-wide Gunotsav . The drive is conducted
to improve education at more than nine thousand schools in the state. However,
the RTI reply pa ints an adverse picture of education. City-based rights
activist Sukhdev Patel, who filed the RTI plea, said that around 31,843 kids
were enrolled in 2006-07 in class I in Ahmed abad Municipal Corporation (AMC)
schools but the number fell to just 16,671 in class VIII.These children include
students from Gujarati, Hindi, English, Marathi, Urdu, Tamil and Sindhi
mediums.
The situation
is equally bad in the Gujarati medium, as 47% of students there also do not
reach class VIII. Of the 21,690 children, who entered in class one in 2006-07,
only 11,459 entered class VIII in 2013-14.
Patel said
there is a probability that these children shifted to private schools.
"Ultimately, they left government-run schools as the level of education is
deteriorating. This is because teachers are roped for in various
state-organised `festivals' and they cannot focus on teaching," he said.
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