The bane of pop-schools

At times of calamity as today what we as a nation should most zealously safeguard is our younger generation who for no fault of their are likely to be the target of violence. Hundreds of parents who send their children to the metropolis daily to attend schools are naturally kept on tenterhooks until they safely return home. 50 this privilege open to a handful of the society has today turned out to be a source of great anxiety and pain illustrating the truth of the doctrine of 'anicca' in Buddhism.

It is by taking a lot of pains and sometimes even resorting to various ruses too that parents in outstations get their offspring admitted to reputed popular schools particularly in Colombo. Many are the social malaise that are caused by this rat race when even most famous heads of schools earn the stigma of being 'rats' in spite of their formerly gained 'honours' such as 'Vidya Vibhushana' etc. etc. Apart from personal disgrace resulting from such circumstances to individuals the ignominy tagged on to their names particularly in the minds of their students tends to create serious social impacts as losing faith in adults which can lead them to irresponsible behaviour throughout their lifetime.

The most deleterious aspect of this popular school phenomenon is the suffering that children undergo in the day-to-day ritual of travelling upto the city from distances ranging from 20 to even 50 miles in vehicles at varying degrees of discomfort. Unlike the sweet past we adults had in our village schools, these miserable victims of parental aspirations are compelled to get up at wee hours of the day and get ready pell mell for the vehicle arriving at their doorstep by 5 O'clock and sometimes even before that. Most of these children do not take their breakfast at home as it is two early and are used to tuck into some 'fast food' or very rarely what is brought from home with little care for health habits that doctors day in day out lay emphasis on.

When they return home after attending 'supplementary' classes it is invariably darkfall or even night allowing them little chance for some respite or for recreation, one of the most vital requirement of a growing child or even an old man for that matter. No wonder obesity among our children has become very common and diabetes a disease widespread with a disturbing figure of nearly 20 percent of school goers according to recent estimates.

Why are people so enamoured of sending their children to popular schools undergoing so much of hardship and in the present context at great risk to their lives? They cannot be blamed for such industry as for any parent the foremost priority of life is to get the best of education for the young ones so that they thrive in their future achieving the highest professional levels in fields like medicine, engineering or even law. That the popular school holds the magic key to that aspiration is the factoid strongly held by almost all parents generally urging them to flock in hordes towards that target at whatever cost. Their trust in the capacity of these schools to get their child what they desire is confirmed by the glorious exam successes they achieve each year which even the best outlying school can hardly match.

It is indeed a vital question to ask, however, how far this conviction held by the parents is a valid proposition and more importantly, if such schools really exist within the city limits of Colombo, whether this 'super' standard can by whatever means be reached by our regional schools. This happens to be to my mind the most worthwhile question or rather in research jargon the 'proposal' that type big brains in the Ministry if Education should address themselves to if there is the flimsiest intention in them to remedy the flow of mammoth 'student traffic' flowing to the city each morning which has now quite understandably become a huge security problem. (It was very recently that the transport minister deployed a fleet of school buses as a remedy to the menace of school vans that converge on the city aggravating the already intractable nightmare of traffic jams in Colombo.

When we consider the factors that make up a good school there is no reason whatsoever for only city schools to be recognised as outstanding in their education. There are four major aspects that directly contribute to satisfactory attainment by students in the classroom - students' IQ (Intelligence Quotient - a person's intelligence measured by a special form of tests), the competence of teachers, facilities available at school and the efficiency of school management. In terms of the first point there can be no regional difference whatsoever between the city and the village as amply shown by rural children in terms of exam results both in their homeground as well as in city schools they attend in hordes (even if we ignore the undeniable fact that the majority of brilliant professors in our universities hail from rural backwaters) as regards teaching staff too, both the city school and the village school have practitioners with equal qualifications, experience and efficiency and there can therefore be no basis for the urban school to boast of a privilege of having a galaxy of 'super stars' in teaching.

What then makes the parents have a predilection for the city school so that they leave no stone unturned to get their child into one of them? What contribution to outstanding exam results in these schools is partly the cream of talent among students from rural areas too that make up classes with optimally capable students who naturally notch up fabulous percentages of passes at exams. The other two factors ie. more facilities and efficient management are largely responsible for a good learning environment in most city schools so that students thrive in their attainment. The best proof of this argument is the few outstation schools that produce good exam results, on a par with most 'super' schools in the city.

It is therefore for the most part effective school management that helps create a learning environment favourable for students to achieve higher goals in education. Even qualified and experienced teachers are rendered indolent and inefficient at the hands of a bad ruler of a school with no proper grasp of how to carry out duties incumbent on him. School heads with deficient personalities exist ensconced in their position only concerned with one's welfare for which they do not hesitate to sacrifice the happiness and satisfaction of their staff at the expense of the students' future. If a study were carried out on the business of school management the majority of regional schools would prove to be afflicted with this malaise and as a result are replete with very good teaches who are unfortunately rendered unable to perform their duties owing to various types of 'teacher harassment' meted out to them by principals and their underlings.

Regional offices are also another source of harassment to teachers responsible for bringing down standards in schools. The task of 'teacher promotion' entrusted to them lags far behind expectations owing to lack of expertise and efficiency led by informed guidance. The concept of counsellor cum academic has only been a pipedream in this particular field where therefore just routine 'supervision' takes place sans enlightening guidance. What with a clerical staff that more often that not are ever ready to harass teachers who go for their official requirements while administrators supervising them turn a blind eye on this sordid situation, teachers in the regions are never rewarded for any good work. As far most city schools, the efficient heads see to these requirements of teachers with proper co-ordination with the zonal or circuit administration so that teachers do not have to worry about their salary increments or even pension procedures.

While the ministry of Education bears the responsibility to execute overall plans to study and remedy this situation rather than merely cling onto their routine, regional authorities should seek ways and means of improving standards in schools under them. Apart from day-to-day activities that consume 90 percent of their time and energies, it behoves the regional bodies to make a serious study of their own task seeking new vistas in the field in which the roles of principals as well as teachers are subjected to an overall revision so that their respective aims and objectives are reassessed and reorientated to tackle fresh challengers that crop up before the new generation of students. With more facilities to deficient stations provided by the regional political authorities this renewal of efforts will create more efficient teaching environments producing better exam results for students thus helping plug the exodus of children to popular stations in the city.