Education in Punjab

Education in Punjab
Mere tinkering with the problem won’t do
by Lt-Gen Harwant Singh (retd)

INstallation of biometric checks by the Punjab Education Department in some schools of Fatehgarh Sahib district to oversee the attendance of teachers and their timely arrival highlights only one aspect of the sad state of affairs of education, even at a location so near the state capital. Late coming and or missing school by teachers of primary, middle and higher secondary schools in the countryside is endemic. Biometric check is a typically bureaucratic solution which an errant teacher can bypass making an entry into the school and then disappearing.
The other shocking practice is the proxy teacher arrangement. The proxies work in place of regulars who make some minimal payments to them. The proxy teachers have dubious academic qualifications and little teaching skills. Some others teach little in schools but take private tuitions at home. Such practices have been in vogue on a large scale and no effort has been made to end these.
Many teachers have fake degrees and many others poor academic record with no teaching skills. Most have sought entry into the profession through political patronage or through a hefty consideration. Postings to stations of choice carry a price.
Of nearly 13,400 primary schools (including private schools), most government schools don’t have basic infrastructure such as playgrounds, suitable classrooms, desks and even black boards. In some schools, classes are held under trees. Of the 6,483 middle and higher secondary schools, most science laboratories are ill-equipped or simply do not exist.
Consequently, the cumulative effect of all these factors results in 100 per cent failures in some government schools and most others produce indifferent results. From the Education Minister down to headmasters, there is no accountability. With poor standard of teaching, mass copying and cheating in examinations takes place, encouraged and abetted by teachers and parents.
Given such an environment, what standards, value system, character building, commitment and fostering of discipline is possible? With many vice-chancellors involved in malfeasance, registrars in corruption cases and political interference, the situation at the university level is no better. Of the five universities and four technical institutes (the better known in the province) not one makes, even a faint blip on the national radar. No college figures amongst the country’s top 100.
To be an Education Minister in Punjab one need not be educated. Tota Singh as Education Minister, not knowing English, did away with English in primary schools. This was when China and rest of India were furiously working to master the English language to find entry into the IT job market and services sector. When in South India, medical, engineering, IT colleges and other institutions were mushrooming all over, the Punjab government in the last decade of 20th century established the Martial Arts Academy.
Even now the political leadership is more keen to promote religious tourism and build hotels to that end rather than focus on more pressing issue of revamping education. The IT boom and auto-industry etc which created  millions of jobs in South India and elsewhere, completely bypassed Punjab due to the short sightedness of our educationists and successive governments in Punjab.
The rural Punjabi youth is poorly educated, has no job skills and is simply unemployable. Consequently, his ambition does not soar beyond joining some petty government job even for which political pull or monetary consideration comes into play. The state’s capacity to create new jobs is restricted to creating new districts, more bureaucracy and state police etc. to accommodate the rising unemployment. Such efforts do not even scratch the surface of this burgeoning unemployment problem. But creating unnecessary jobs is burdening the state exchequer with unproductive expenditure and pushing the province further into a debt trap.
No university is involved in research work, except the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, which has little to show. The Central Government did not locate even one IIT or IIM in Punjab, and the political class has had no idea what these institutions are all about. In bigger towns, teaching shops have mushroomed to prepare students for entry into professional colleges. Many students do succeed but their basic foundation remains weak. Thus one requires a microscope to locate some one, Punjab educated, in say, ISRO, Nuclear Research Centres, DRDO and other scientific institutions working on the frontiers of knowledge.
No industry has come to Punjab essentially on three counts. While every other state has been spreading red carpet for the industrialists and formulated industry-friendly policies, Punjab has been driving them away by spreading the red tape and holding scissors to downsize their pockets.
The other reason is the paucity of qualified, trained and skilled manpower in the province. The third is the pathetic state of infrastructure. So it has been a case of triple whammy, unfriendly policies, lack of qualified manpower and absence of infrastructure. Investments in realty are unproductive, create no wealth and job opportunities, builders take away money and leave behind labour colonies, which have come to dot all towns. With fragmentation of land holdings, overexploitation of land and the ever depleting ground water level, agriculture is on the decline and no more attracts the youth.
For Punjab, good education for the youth must be accorded the highest priority. Mere tinkering with the problem cannot set things right. We need out-of-box thinking and a major surgical operation. All this requires foresight and political will. Punjab has been left so far behind that only a concerted effort of five to seven years is required for the results to show. There is simply no quick-fix solution nor any time to lose.
The first requirement is to thoroughly screen the teaching staff at the primary, middle and higher secondary schools and technical institutions. Those who do not come up to an acceptable level should be offered attractive VRS or compulsorily retired with suitable emoluments.
The pay and emoluments of teaching staff should be substantially increased to attract the right material. Let’s lay down minimum academic qualifications for various levels of entry. Constitute large number of selection boards with educationists of repute on these, to select new teachers and allow no political interference in selection.
Training of teachers, old and new, should be taken in hand by rotating them through various types of capsules. Get suitable staff from South India to work in Punjab schools for three to five years to meet the shortages of suitable teachers.
Teaching of science and mathematics should be given priority and students encouraged to take up these subjects. In the emerging knowledge economy, proficiency in these subjects has become inescapable.
Revamping of education in the state, which includes building infrastructure at the schools requires large funds. Why not sell most state corporations and public enterprises and redeploy the monies so recovered for refurbishing the education system?
To meet the paucity of good teaching staff, high class teaching centres should be created and teaching from these projected through satellite or EDUSAT and received in schools on their video screens. This will also prove very useful for the teaching staff at the schools. Such a system requires considerable investment, but will prove the best and shortest way out of the current situation. Invite foreign universities of repute to set up colleges in the state.
Special incentives for the girl child should be introduced up to the higher secondary level at least. It should be mandatory for private schools to have appropriate infrastructure and minimum pay scales for teachers. They can be given two years to conform to these requirements, failing which they should be de-recognised.
Investing in education has a long lead time, but the returns on it unquestionably outweigh any near term investments. These investments of time and resources have to be made now, because time is fast running out.
The writer, who taught at the War College, School of Armoured Warfare, is a former Chairman, Army Public School, Dagshai