“We sow and they reap,” sighed a government school headmaster lamenting that he could do nothing beyond helplessly watching most of his bright students in SSLC moving to private schools, enamoured by free education or fee concession.
There is unanimity among government school heads that the education system that provides leeway for private schools to enjoy the advantage of admitting only top-notch students after SSLC and boast cent per cent results needs to be revisited.
A number of government schools are able to produce cent per cent results, but most number of students with high overall totals belong to private schools. Their grouse is that there is no level-playing field.
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“Private schools not only admit students with high scores, they also skip portions in plus one and concentrate on plus two portions for nearly two years. Government schools are unable to do this and are at a clear disadvantage.
There is no reason why any institution that admits only top-ranking students and resorts to unethical approach of leaving out plus one portions should not produce good results,” says headmaster of Syed Murtuza Government Higher Secondary School Veluchamy.
Like him, there is a sense of disgust among other headmasters who sympathise with the students and their parents for their failure to realise the consequences in store.
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Flawed approach
For, though they perform well in plus two, they fail to cope with higher studies. Most of such students had been failing miserably after setting foot into professional colleges and lose self-confidence.
This shortcoming could be addressed if the aggregate of the scores in plus one and plus two was taken for higher education admissions, Mr. Veluchamy said.
According to R. Sampath, headmaster of government girls’ higher secondary school, Mannachanallur, the government should revive the system of allotting a certain percentage of seats in higher educational institutions for top-rankers amongst government higher secondary school students. Otherwise, it would be difficult to rein in private schools indulging in unfair means, he said.
The former headmaster of government higher secondary school, Anbil, Subramanian, said the system had to pave way for creation of a model school in each district to provide a study environment as in private schools for retaining top-notch performers.
Best teachers must be posted in the school and excellent facilities provided. In doing so, the students would enjoy the benefits of government schemes, he said.
The heads of government higher secondary schools were certain that the true worth of most of the private schools would be revealed if the monitoring mechanism was tightened to ensure that they did not get away with skipping plus one portions.
K. Thulasidasan, Principal, SRV Higher Secondary School, Samayapuram, said top-ranking students flock private schools because parents are confident that students learn life skills and are sure that the subjects are handled well.
When government institutions such as IITs and NITs admit only bright students, there was no logic in questioning the practice of private schools admitting the creamy layer, said Mr. Thulasidasan.