By TFL Mawlong
A normal situation, free from the pandemic, will not happen anytime soon, at least not in 2020. Many stakeholders inveigh against online education (and for good reasons), but like it or not online education (YouTube or online academy) is a game-changer at least for 10+2 science education. It would be interesting to observe how Covid19 would shape and change the enrollment pattern to higher secondary schools given that migrating outside the state is impossible and commuting in Shillong city is becoming 150% costlier. In this article, I would venture to draw the attention of readers towards some critical facts with regards to 10+2 Science Education in the city.
Let me bluntly state that all well established Higher Secondary Schools (HSS) are more or less the same. It does not matter where a student gets admitted for 10+2. Whether it be St Edmund’s HSS, or St Anthony’s HSS, or Government Boys, or Seven Set HSS, or Laban Boys HSS, etc., the education offered is generally one of a shallow and crass type. They all have that ruthless and selfish expectation from you even while feeding you with incomprehensible crass lessons. So I would say there’s nothing glorious about any of them, though, of course, I won’t deny, there is something decent in all of them.
Also, but for some fashionable facilities and bourgeoisie atmosphere in the reputed schools of the city, I can confidently say that the Higher Secondary Schools in small towns like Sohra, Khliehriat, Mairang, and District Headquarters easily match the quality (or the lack of quality) of the city’s reputed HSS. Don’t be fooled for one instant by the clamour about the Higher Secondary Schools in the city sweeping the first ten positions in HSSLC. I believe many would agree that if the SSLC toppers or high first division students would settle in other less reputed HSS or any HSS in small towns, many of them would still be ‘board toppers’ in HSSLC if they can summon the will to do so. We have seen science students of lesser-known small-town schools doing quite well despite the lack of privileges (good private tuitions, etc) that their urban counterparts enjoy and despite being academically very poor when they joined the 10+2 science. For instance, Mairang Presbyterian HSS is consistently registering 100% pass with many of them in first division and distinctions. In the past, there have been HSSLC 12 science toppers from Ramakrishna mission HSS as well. Not that the ‘top-ten tag’ of students reflects the quality of higher secondary science education in schools, nor does it matter at all these days! So what’s pulling students to reputed and expensive HSS?
Let’s critically examine the crucial ‘pull-factor’ in today’s enrollment to the 10+2 ‘Science’ stream. The majority of students are choosing the city’s reputed HSS over others because they ‘consciously or subconsciously’ think that these schools can help them crack the medical entrance exam (National Eligibility Entrance Test, NEET) or the engineering entrance exam (Joint Engineering Entrance examination, JEE) apart from giving them a ‘solid science education.’ Well I’m sorry to disappoint you, but our so-called prestigious HSS ‘cannot’ assure you a solid science education, let alone help you crack NEET/JEE, ‘more than other HSS in Meghalaya could.’ So the fatalistic notion that the reputed HSS of the city are the ‘Holy Grail of excellent science education’ is just a ‘myth’ that must be busted in the interest of all students.
It is a fact that there are hardly 5-7 students every year who get into MBBS fresh out of schools ever since the introduction of NEET in 2015. And these 5-7 students are almost entirely from BSF, Army Public Shillong, and other private HSS outside Meghalaya. Mind that, students of Meghalaya enjoy an MBBS quota which effectively means that they are to compete only with fellow Khasi-Jaintia, or Garos for the state merit MBBS seats and that means scoring a mere 360 or 50% is more than enough to get an MBSS Seat from the Khasi Jaintia category. Also, the number of students getting into IIT is insignificantly low. In the last 15 years, there are less than 0.3 numbers of students per year (i.e. less than one student in three to four years) who get into IIT.
NEET, as such is not as hard as it is made out to be. It only requires plodding the whole year to develop that Sherlockian clarity of basic concepts (you may Google about Sherlock) and constant practice to become perfect with Multiple Choice Questions.
Questions loom: Why is it that hard then for our brightest students (except one or two) in reputed schools to score even 320 out of 720 marks when tribal students in Manipur or Assam (even if we don’t count their best private schools) are scoring 520+ in good numbers? This is observed every year. If the basic concept is strong I don’t see why it is difficult to score 400+ marks out of 720 even for above-average students fresh out of school. So don’t our schools teach students a conceptual understanding of the basics? We can’t say that students are not diligent enough, can we? I would presume our bright and ambitious students in our reputed schools are slogging tirelessly for two years. Paradoxically, not only do they fail to perform well in NEET/JEE, but many of them also have an almost zero conceptual understanding even after scoring 85+ percentages in HSSLC and after two years of attending private tuitions.
There’s another thing. If you observe keenly, the 10+2 students in the city have fallen prey to a fashion that is based on consumerism which is enthralling coaching advertisers and marketers. Coaching institutes are routinely marketing in the HSS of the city. Some private schools would finally tie up with the coaching institutes at the full expense of students. And those schools who are avoiding the coaching marketers are busily brainwashing the students to make a sell of their own shambolic coaching service. Either way, our science students are constantly trying to fill up the huge learning gap in school with equally ineffective how-ever-well-meaning coaching centers of Shillong.
And every year students from different districts are migrating to Shillong for 10+2 science education even though good Higher Secondary Schools are available in their vicinity. Perhaps they think that they would at least have access to coaching centers and other private home tuitions in Shillong. But these days, all students, where-ever they are, have equal opportunity to access excellent Online Coaching offered by the best in India and some excellent education channels on YouTube, removing the need for private tuitions.
Hence considering the calamitous impact that Covid19 has had on the economy of thousands of families in Meghalaya, it is not worth it for rural students to migrate even fifty kilometers to scramble for seats in the expensive Higher Secondary Schools of the city. Instead of spending Rs 20,000 – 30,000 in admission fees and more hidden fees over two years, apart from monthly private tuition fees and living expense in Shillong, I would suggest that parents become wiser: They should instead buy a Rs 20,000 laptop for their son/daughter and any economical but excellent Online Course for NEET/JEE (about Rs 10,000. And there are quite a few out there) and counsel him/her to settle in their town higher secondary schools. I am sure if they can summon the will to work hard, they’ll be better placed than their city counterparts who are wasting significant time and money in traffic and in attending the wasteful private tuitions daily.
I am not writing this to forcefully debunk the notion that prestigious schools can help you crack NEET/JEE. I am just trying to show that the ‘Holy Grail of an excellent education’ is never in our reputed Higher Secondary Schools or Colleges.
To conclude, I would suggest that the Deputy Commissioner’s offices in Meghalaya be more proactive in creating education awareness and ensuring a systematic science education in their districts. A DC in a rural district, being more in touch with the people and institutions can initiate many innovative programs in their districts to arm science students with critical ammunitions for NEET/JEE. For instance, among other things, a DC can initiate the teacher’s convention which would serve as a forum for teachers to discuss and share their experiences, knowledge, and obstacle to prepare students for the cutting-edge entrance exams. In these conventions, teachers could be exposed to the best practices, and well-designed teaching and study materials (which at present, even the reputed schools and coaching centers are oblivious to). The DC can also monitor (using the specially tailored online portal) the student’s progress in Government and Government-aided HSS.
A concerted effort is needed to gradually end the lopsided enrollment pattern of students in 10+2. And it matters for science education in Meghalaya. When a ‘qualitatively’ and a ‘quantitatively’ uniform enrollment pattern in10+2 is realized, I reckon a revolution (or evolution!) in Science Education will be set in motion!
I have written this article with honesty and sensitivity