Mumbai: As the Maharashtra government gets ready to close over 1,300 Zilla Parishad schools, citing low attendance and lack of quality, an advertisement published by the Education Department lists some of these same schools as A-Grade, for extending quality education.
The Education Department published full-page district-wise advertisements in regional newspapers, announcing A-Grade schools of that particular district.
Regional list
The Hindu analysed the published list for Pune and Ahmednagar districts, where respectively 76 and 49 schools are going to be closed. It was revealed that eight schools from Pune and ten schools from Ahmednagar which are going to be closed, for lack of quality of education, make the Grade-A list for these districts, raising questions over the government’s decision to close these schools, as well as on the methodology of grading them.
Researchers in the education field have raised voices over the move and written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Pune-based researcher Kishore Farak has asked Mr. Fadnavis to rethink the entire exercise to stop the process with immediate effect to avoid loss for students.
As per information available, in Pune, the government had decided to close down Bendvasti, Jagtap vasti and Yadav vasti in Purandar tehsil; Shinde wadi kashing and Dattwadi in Mulshi; Bhaskar vasti in Daund; Dadvadi in Velhe and Barvanagar in Baramati. In Ahmednagar, Ghodewadi in Akole; Dhavalewadi in Jamkhed; Khadkaimala, Jagdambmala and Dattnagar in Nagar; Malwadi, Nighutmala in Parner; Shivajinagar-Shedgaon in Shrigonda; Kautewadi and Lahangevasti in Sangamner tehsils.
All the above mentioned schools figure in the list of Grade A schools in the respective districts. Education Minister Vinod Tawde, while announcing the decision of closing schools with students less than 10, had said that less number of students is a sign of low quality of education and hence these need to be adjusted with other schools.
Grading tool
The A grade is given through Shala Siddhi — also known as the National Programme on School Standards and Evaluation (NPSSE) — an instrument for school evaluation.
It is a process of self-certification and the government ad confirms that it is done by the school’s head-teacher, all teachers and management committee. Mr. Darak in his letter to the CM has also pointed out the vulnerability of such grading process and the need to not depend entirely on such tools.
Developed by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), the scheme aims to enable schools to evaluate their performance in ‘a more focused and strategic manner and facilitate them to make professional judgements for improvement’.
Maharashtra is among the few to have accomplished state-specific adaptation and translation of documents and School Standards and Evaluation Framework (SSEF). in their respective regional languages. Mr. Tawde could not be reached despite several attempts.
