Is Goa giving the education sector the attention it deserves?

Just how much importance does the State give to education? While the priorities of successive governments, chief ministers, ministers and MLAs remain resumption of mining, development of infrastructure and other issues, education just does not figure on the top of anybody’s list. A new academic year begins this week, but how prepared is Goa to meet the challenges of an education system that has moved beyond the theoretical to the analytical and applied nature? 

The answer lies in the number of private institutes that are emerging and that coach students for the entrance exams for professional courses, and the number of students willing to spend the entire day in the classroom of these institutes, even during their holidays. The institutes teach the same syllabus as the other higher secondary schools teach, but there is a difference in the teaching method that makes these more sought after by those seeking to enter the professional spectrum.

It is not, however, only at this level where Goa fails to prepare its students. It begins right from the primary. Take for instance, the report of the committee on education that was submitted to the government on January 25 this year. Four months later it is yet to be made public. Leave that aside, has even the government itself reviewed the report? 

This committee was constituted in July 2016 and given 120 days to study the system of grants and financial support to primary government-aided schools and to recommend measures to improve the overall efficiency to achieve the stated educational goals of the State. The committee did not complete its deliberations within the four months given to it, and its term was extended at various times, and the report finally submitted this January. But we still don’t know what the 16-page report contains. 

Given that instead of 120 days it took over 1,000 days to be completed we do believe that the report must contain recommendations for major reforms in the education system, and if it does, the sooner these are implemented the better would it be for the young minds. But, even if the report is made public, its suggestions have to find favour with the government before they can be applied to the system. The process is indeed cumbersome and time consuming, that will not allow anything to move fast. In the meantime, the education sector in the State that needs a desperate revamp continues to suffer.

Every delay in reforming the education system will hold up the process of creating achievers. In August 2017 the Legislative Assembly had discussed upgrading the syllabus. The general feeling among the MLAs in the Assembly was that compared to CBSE and ICSE boards, the Goa Board syllabus is of a low standard and hence students would find it difficult to compete with it at professional level. Almost simultaneously, the headmasters association had made a similar suggestion. Now, in June 2019 Goa still follows the syllabus of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), introduced in 2006. Is this syllabus still relevant in a period when knowledge changes fast? 

We are looking at dates like 2016 and 2017 – three and two years ago – when education reforms had been sought and nothing has yet changed. Rather than hastening the process of change and taking leaps ahead, we are dragging the feet on change, content to dole out the same syllabus that has been in currency since 2006. The moment of pride for the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education comes when the Class X students beat the pass percentage record of the previous year, but then just how do these students fare when it comes to competitive exams with their counterparts from other States?

Let’s be clear that the current education system, while producing good students, is not preparing them to enter into prestigious institutes of higher learning, where the competition is high. It is for this reason that the private coaching institutes have tied up with higher secondary schools in Goa, and offer students something more than what the normal school does. 

We are a highly literate State, with almost 100 per cent children being enrolled in schools. We have parents preferring private schools for the wards, rather than the government schools, as the former have a better standard and better facilities. Goa does not need to concentrate on increasing enrollment. What the focus of the State should now be is attaining excellence. If to meet that excellence we need to change the syllabus why not? Haven’t other States changed the NCERT syllabus because of criticism that it is below par and does not equip students to meet the challenges of national competitive exams? Tamil Nadu is an example of this.

If the Goa Board is facing similar criticism, shouldn’t it also make that change? Or are we going to stand in the queue and miss the education bus?

Sadly schools will reopen this week with no reforms, changes in education. It implies that Goa will miss another year when it could have brought about change in the system. A year is a very long period. Any delay in implementing reforms in education will hold up the creation of smart students. Though financial concerns are often raised as reasons for the delay, it is political will that is often absent. The pace at which the State is progressing in this sector indicates the value that it accords to the education of the child. 

Goa’s sorry education story does not end with the school level. Goa University has been faring badly in the National Institutional Ranking Framework rankings. From the 20th position in 2016 to the 93rd in 2019, the university has fallen by 73 ranks in four years. In October last year, in the World University Rankings – BRICS Regional Rankings – Goa University that had stayed at a steady 201 for five consecutive years had fallen to 241. Isn’t it now plain to understand why students from Goa seek admission in colleges and institutes outside the State? 

Goa’s education system has been unable to deliver. The State’s entire education system needs to be revamped; it needs to be made more modern, preparing students for the challenges ahead. The State is facing a brain drain on two counts – lack of quality education and lack of job opportunities. Both these need to be given urgent consideration, as the future of the youth of the State is linked to the future of the State itself. If the smartest of the youth leave Goa, who will remain to populate the land? The education system has to be tweaked to retain the youth in the State and also link it to employment so that the lure of the greener pasture is reduced. 

The time to do all this has long been gone. Goa has missed the bus, but it can still do some fire fighting so that from here on the talent from the State stays in the State. It is the future of Goa and of its people that is at stake here.