Punjab English teachers ‘flunk’ Education Minister’s test

Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Mohali, June 24

In Punjab, 80,278 of the 3,78,628 Class-10 government school students flunked English exam this year. Reason: they were taught by those who themselves struggle to write a simple correct sentence in the language.

Sample this: "English language are international language", "Our school has situated in remote area", "Students parents are not educational so that time table should be fresh before ressess", "It class was very weak class from 6th by chance", "The main reason is the English level of study for the backward area students".

These were a few sentences written by nearly 200 English teachers when questioned on reasons behind the students' poor performance and suggestions to improve them.

Punjab Education Minister Daljeet Singh Cheema, who had summoned the teachers whose students performed the worst, was shocked. "You don't even know correct spellings of several words then how can we expect students to perform well. All of you have failed in my class," Cheema said.

The minister was agitated to the extent that he asked his staff to display the teachers' errors on a projector. A teacher from Ropar spelled vacant as "vacent" and should as "shoud", while another from Fazilka wrote lack of interest as "lake of interest".

When Cheema asked them to explain reasons for their glaring errors, a teacher from Ludhiana said: "I have forgotten my spectacles at home." Another from Fazilka said: "I got confused while explaining the students' poor performance." The Minister said on an average, each teacher committed at least 60 errors in around 150 words. To improve teachers' language skills, Cheema said he would soon launch a special training programme.