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Aurangabad civic body takes measures to improve quality of school education
In a recent meeting Aurangabad municipal commissioner, Om Prakash Bakoria expressed serious concerns over the unsatisfactory performances of students and encouraged the head-masters to provide extra coaching to students in mathematics and English if needed.
Taking the hint from the education system overhaul announced recently by the PMO, the Aurangabad civic body has decided to initiate a slew of measures to the improve quality of education in its schools from the upcoming academic session.
Besides giving special attention to teaching mathematics and English to high school students, the municipal authorities will also start officering education in semi-English medium.
In a recent meeting with all the headmasters of civic-run schools, municipal commissioner Om Prakash Bakoria expressed serious concerns over the unsatisfactory performances of students. "It seems that students studying in our institutions not on par with their private school counterparts. Many students in our schools are weak in important subjects such as mathematics and English," he said.
For a body which is talking of such bold initiatives, ironically, the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is without an education officer since October 2014. The post is still vacant after superannuation of then education officer A M Shaikh. Besides, the most rampant problem across India also plagues this civic body due to the shortage of teachers in all its schools. The civic body has a team of only 558 teachers for about 20,000 students which is a teacher student ratio of 1:35.
The AMC runs a network of 77 schools in the city, of which 8 are in rented properties. The civic body has ensured basic facilities like toilets, play grounds and drinking water among others in all the AMC-owned buildings. However, all is not rosy in the schools running out of rented properties as many parents have been complaining about lack of facilities.
A senior officer in the education department said the authorities had carried out minor repair works of schools under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in 2014-15. Besides free of cost education, the AMC also offers schemes free school uniform, e-learning and midday meal that attract a large number of students, especially those belonging to economically weaker sections.
It is heartening to see Tier-II towns taking initiatives aimed at improving the quality of education. It is a sea of change from the prevalent focus from a few years ago when all authorities wanted was numbers to boast about. It is good that we are finally talking about learning objectives, subject wise discussions etc. As with all government agencies, the results may be slow to show but a start is always welcome.