Have you ever wondered what are the major problems of government schools? If your answer is yes, it is a very good thing, but if you haven’t, I have discussed some major problems that government schools are facing today.
“Government schooling is the most radical adventure in history. It kills the family by monopolizing the best times of childhood and by teaching disrespect for home and parents.”
John Taylor Gatto, American Author and Teacher
Education is one of the major factors that contribute to the economic state of any country. After independence, the Indian government is continuously focusing on the literacy rate of the country. In our constitution, education is the fundamental right of every individual. Various steps have been taken by the government to impart quality education but still, the quality is declining over the years. By bringing new schemes each year, capable officers are trying to reform the functioning of government schools.
There are many scholarships and government policies that are helping students in their education across the country. But when it comes to education in government schools, conditions are not as good as they have to be. A lot of work has been done to improve the conditions of government schools but still, many problems need to be solved.
Let us throw light on the major problems of government schools.
7 Major Problems of Government Schools
Infrastructure
The infrastructure is one of the most common problems of every government school in India. Many schools across the country do not have any classrooms and if they have, the number is extremely low. It has been seen that whenever the budget gets tight, classroom numbers are often impacted. Due to this, students of 2-3 classes are taught by different teachers in the same classroom. The other infrastructure is the lack of furniture. Students have to sit on the grounds.
Other facilities such as playgrounds and labs are also not there in many government schools that are in rural areas. Lack of proper infrastructure makes students lack interest in studies to some extent. There is also a lack of access to electricity and sanitation. According to state-level data, one-third of states do not provide electricity to the majority of the schools. The number of qualified teachers in government schools is also low, which greatly deteriorates the quality of education. Many schools do not have science labs and if they have the apparatus or the overall lab condition is worst.
Technology
When it comes to teaching, technology should reach every classroom. Today students are more techno-savvy than teachers and collaborating education and technology will be a great positive change. To bring computers and other forms of technology to the classrooms, schools require funding and their proper maintenance. Here, the role of government is to ensure that just like private schools, government schools should bring a shift to technology.
There are areas where there is no proper connection to the internet. It becomes the responsibility so that they are not depriving students of the modern curriculum. There are only 4% of government schools that have internet connection and 18% schools that have computers. In this digital revolution wave, it has to be taken care that rural students are not missing out due to insufficient technology in government schools.
The compulsion of promotion up to class 8th
Every student of government school is given a pink slip of promotion in the next class. This is given irrespective of whether the student is capable enough of going to the next class or not. If the details of the students are mentioned in school records, be it fake or real, the student is bound to get a pass. This is one of the main disadvantages of government schools.
The purpose of this scheme is to show the increased literacy rate of the state on papers. This scheme is also used to check to retain admissions and dropout rate of students in government schools. To show everything in place on papers, the government is not taking any pain to work on the ground level. How does it matter if the student is continuously being passed but does not know the basics of the subject? The teachers often do not pay heed to put their efforts into teaching as they already know that their students are going to be passed whether they teach or not.
Mid-Day-Meals
Mid-Day meals or free lunch is another big problem of government schools to date. This is a kind of bait to increase admission intake and attendance of students coming from poor families. Although it is a great initiative, yet it is not bringing results. This is due to the low-quality food that the schools are providing.
Another reason for the failure of this scheme is a scam. Many small and big scams often come across from all over India. Many schools show fake admission and attendance records to extort money from this government scheme for their benefit. Government has to take strict measures to ensure that this scheme is not misused by the school administration.
Checks are kept in place
Several checks are imposed on teachers. They are followed well on papers but still are unable to yield appropriate results. A teacher has to reach in time, maintain proper lesson plans and leave the school in time. All the work is done for the namesake as the teacher is never accountable for what he does in school. If the government can check what a teacher is doing in the class then many problems will automatically solve.
Paperwork is done to satisfy the officials that teachers are punctual and working according to their lesson plans. But in most cases, the result is negative as many teachers do it for the namesake only. To ensure quality education, the government has to do some reduction in the salary of teachers according to the performance of their students. Corruption in education is due to neglecting these types of practices.
Administration
There is no proper administration system when it comes to government schools. We have come across many cases when teachers are absent from the class despite being in the school. This happens due to no accountable check on teachers. Due to this, being present in the school the students are not able to learn. It has been seen that there are only 2-3 teachers for students of grades 1-5 in many schools. As a result, students of different classes are clubbed together and taught in the same classroom.
Apart from teaching, the government teachers are involved in many administrative works such as census surveys and election duty. Hence, they get less time to preplan their teaching lessons. This adversely affects the education of students. Sometimes, this leads to a lack of interest in teaching, as they are already getting paid without any check on what they are teaching.
Funding
Lack of funding is one major reason that affects many aspects of government schools simultaneously. From smaller staff to fewer resources and services, budget cuts have created great problems for schools as well as students. Lack of furniture, quality of food, study material, and many necessities are not in place due to budget cuts. Lack of funding is directly linked to the student’s achievement level. This is because overall grooming is only possible when schools have proper facilities.
A study by the Center for American Progress shows that students studying in schools with higher budgets are better in studies and comprehensive courses such as advanced math and science. On the other hand, students in schools with a low budget have to struggle more to get succeed. Although the economic state of the country has improved in the past few years still school funding issues are continuing to persist. Some changes have to be done in education policies to resolve school funding problems.
Conclusion
Education is the basic requirement of every individual and it becomes the responsibility of the government to ensure that every child of the country is entitled to quality education. The results of government schools are less than private schools as they pay more attention to every student in every aspect from education to extra co-curricular activities. The people who are not financially in a good state also have the right to literacy.
The system of government schools in India is based on flawed evaluation. To curtail this, the government has to take some strict measures. These could be – ensuring proper funding in every government school to provide better facilities, proper check on what teachers are teaching in classrooms, failure of the student if he/she is not able to clear his exam of the respective class, maintaining infrastructure, and using the latest technology in classrooms to build interest in students for studies. The government schemes that are not misused by school administration should also be taken care of.
I hope you may have familiar with these 7 major problems of government schools. Now, if this article added any value to your life, share it with your friends, and don’t forget to share your experience and views in the comment section.
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