Gripped by lethargy

INDIA SEEMS to be in the grip of educational lethargy. The strikes by teachers in various states for ambitious hikes in pay scales indicate that the nation has lost its missionary zeal in the enterprise of education. Nobody will grudge a more comfortable living for the teacher who is rightly called a nation-builder, but manifesting callous indifference to the task of education is rather a sad reflection on the state of affairs. There was a time when the teaching fraternity was dedicated and committed. A lethargic specimen in the profession was an exception, not the rule. The situation today is sadly the reverse. Most of the teachers now take pride in curbing their enthusiasm and diluting their dynamism as if they have adopted a punitive approach towards society.

One is surprised at the attitude, when nearly 50 per cent of the students in schools and colleges fail in their examinations. The concerned authorities do not act to put a check on this colossal wastage.

It is rather shocking that with the passage of time, the percentage of failure is mounting. The availability of innovative methods of teaching and innumerable teaching aids have brought down the pass percentage rather than giving it a boost.This is not the case in spheres such as medicine where the success rate, including the mortality rate has declined phenomenally. While we talk of progress in education and express our concern for quality and excellence, we forget that more than the infrastructure it is the teacher who can fulfil our dreams and aspirations.

The policy resolution of the Government of India, 1968 said explicitly: ``of all the factors which determine the quality of education, the teacher is undoubtedly the most important.'' Is it not a sad situation that a majority of parents have developed a very low opinion about state-run schools and prefer to send their children to private schools, where they have to pay a handsome fee even if it pinches their pockets? And what makes the state- run school poorer in quality. Pay scales? Service conditions? Security of service? No, it is lethargy.

A multi-dimensional lethargy needs to be abandoned as soon as possible to give India the momentum that it needs to eradicate the evils of illiteracy. It needs to achieve the standard of education that is indispensable for higher productivity and greater competitiveness in the global market.

It is not the state-run institutes alone that need to shed their educational lethargy. Any sign of lethargy even in a private set up is fatal. No institution that wants to achieve optimal levels of quality and excellence can afford to be lethargic in any field-planning, management, up-gradation, re-orientation, curriculum renewal, testing and evaluation techniques of its vision in the changing context of the national as well as the world situation. A lethargic component in the machinery of education is like grit in the pudding.

It must be identified and re-energised to make it an asset in the overall dynamism of education, which alone can develop our vast human resources that are waiting to realise their potential in the hands of enthusiastic teachers.

S. C. GUPTA

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