Teachers appointed by the state are “next to nothing” and the qualities of the text
books are not “age equivalent”.
HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on 16th Monday took on the states
for blaming the Centre for all ills plaguing Education, asking them to play a more
“proactive” role since the responsibility in this sector lay “squarely on their
shoulders“.
Mr. Sibal said “any decision taken by the Central Government for overall development
of education in the country is perceived as an attack on the federal structure”.
“This is the tragedy of the country. We all blame the Central Government for everything.
If a child does not go to school, the Minister and the Centre must respond. This
is not the job of the Central Government. If we try and set standards and request
the boards to apply those standards, then they say, it is an attack on federal structure,”
he lamented. Seeking a more “proactive” role from states as the delivery mechanism
ultimately lay with them; Mr. Sibal said they must realize that responsibility of
education lay “squarely on their shoulders”. At the same time, he felt, the “federal
structure should be far more cohesive”.
Voicing optimism that there would be a marked improvement in quality of education
in the coming eight years before 2020, he said “much of that depends on the level
of commitment that we will see from the state governments”. Mr. Sibal regretted
that states are also not prepared to accept policy issues showing little efforts
to abolish class X boards despite the best of intentions of the Centre. “It’s very
difficult to convince the states. They have not abolished class X board till date
and they are not onboard on many of the issues,” he said at a function here. Mr.
Sibal felt that the Right to Education should be given three more years to show
its results and said several provisions under it such as teacher recruitment would
bring about a much needed change in the quality.
So far, he said teachers appointed by the state are “next to nothing” and the qualities
of the text books are not “age equivalent”. “We can prescribe the quality of syllabi
and set standards but ultimately the text books are prepared by the state governments,
but I daresay the content of the text books are such that they are not age equivalent,”
he said. On the issue of funding, he said there has to be a structural change and
the issue has to be addressed because states are of the view that unless Centre
provides 100 percent assistance, they cannot deliver the goods. He said “no government
so far in the history of the country has allocated 
2.31 lakh crore for elementary
education and this should be appreciated by the states”.
Courtesy: The Hindu
