Stop annual day functions before exams: Ex-Director

Our Correspondent

Kangra, March 16

Education of students gets affected by holding annual day functions in schools, that too when the annual examinations are a few days away. These functions divert their concentration from the studies towards the preparations of cultural programmes.

Dr RD Sharma, state convener of the Himachal Pradesh Educational Consultant Forum and former Deputy Director of Education, in a statement here today described the school education system in the state in a shambles. He said instead of snubbing school heads, many ministers and VIPs presided over such functions. RD Sharma said the Education Department authorities were doing nothing to improve the education system. Explanations should be sought from school heads who organised such functions in February and the government should ban such functions. He suggested that the annual school functions should be held in November or December.

Sharma said the standard of education was deteriorating with 53 per cent students of Class V failed to do simple division. He said the Annual Status Education Report, 2014, mentioned that 39 per cent students of Class IV could not do substraction, 12 per cent Class II students could not read even letters and 17.2 per cent students could not read properly, 20 per cent students of Class IV could not read Class I-level textbooks and 25 per cent students of Class V could not read Class II-level textbooks.

The forum demanded that the CM should tighten the noose around officers concerned and ask for an Action Taken Report from the Directorate regularly regarding the implementation of the educational guidelines.