IMPHAL, Feb 11: Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), Rural 2010, shows that almost 80 percent of the villages visited by the ASER team have Government primary schools though the enrollment rate in private schools is higher with 66 percent of children between 6-15 age groups enrolling in private schools.
A provisional report of the Annual Status of Education Report (Rural), 2010, North East India was released today at the Institute of Co-operative Management, (ICM), during a formal function, by NCP MLA and opposition leader, Radha Binod Koijam and professor N. Mohendro Singh, former member, steering committee of NER Vision 2020, DoNER who attended the function as the chief guest and guest of honour respectively.
Further according to the reports more girls do not go to school as compared to boys, more so in the older age groups. In the age group of 15-16 years 15 percents of girls are out of school as compared to 11 percent of boys. The same trend of high enrollment in private schools can also be seen among the pre-school group.
Though the reading and arithmetic ability of children in Manipur is better than the National average, there is still considerable scope for improvement, it said.
It further mentioned that more than 55 percent to 70 percent of the schools have received various grants from the Government, but very little usage of the funds was detected during the visit.
It noted that primary schools with all teachers present on the day of the visit stands very low at only 27 percent.
Coming to the infrastructure and facilities it said that more than 97 percent of the visited schools do not have computer facilities available for students. Other facilities like toilet, drinking water, library and midday meals are way behind the all India average. Remarkably, 72 percent of the visited schools have a playground for the students, which is higher than the national average of 62 percent said the report.
The analysis was base on household to household survey of 8 districts in the state with Tamenglong district being the only left out from the analysis.
In his chief guest speech, Radhabinod Koijam while appreciating the survey of the ASER team for providing data of performances of schools and students maintained that the report could be used to streamline the shortcomings in the education system.
He also noted that the government teachers today lack sincerity while discharging their duties and are only interested in enjoying their salaries. A new culture of replacement teaching has been introduced by hiring unemployed individuals on their behalf wherein teachers posted in hill districts remain at their homes, maintained the MLA.
The opposition leader further asserted that the report has clearly shown huge shortcomings in providing facilities in government schools when compared with the guidelines of the authority.
Senior journalist and chief editor ISTV network, Yumnam Rupachandra, who attended the function as panelist, while noting the high performances of private schools said that it was not the school behind the success of students but the private tuition provided to the students by their parents. However children in Government schools are only enrolled considering the free education provided by the government.
He further observed that Manipur has the potential to provide good education like in other states of the country provided the education environment of the state is rectified. Thereby, control the huge draining of wealth out of the state in the name of education, added the senior journalist.
