Over 80 pc govt schools in R'than have no labs, few practical classes

While the BJP-led state government is making tall claims about improving education standards in Rajasthan, the data released by District Information System for Education presents altogether a different picture. DISE is a body associated with Human Resource Development Ministry.

About 80 per cent of secondary and senior secondary government schools in the state do not have integrated Science and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) laboratories. According to the data, only 17.74 per cent government secondary schools have labs while 16 per cent have computer labs.

Education department senior officials refused to comment on the report. But they agreed to the fact that majority of students who passed Science stream have never entered labs for experiments.
Of total 27,000 government secondary schools only 30 per cent have Science stream. The schools which have labs are also in poor shape. The situation is worse in rural areas, which best explains the reason why students after class 10 either drop out from the government schools or shift to private ones.

Interestingly, class 11 examination consists of practical test of 50 marks in each of the Science stream  like Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Computer Science.

According to Rajasthan Board rules, each student has to attend practical classes at least 20 times in an academic session. Sources said a few schools make alternate arrangement to conduct practical classes while in many schools, students do not get a chance to attend practical classes.

They agreed to the fact that in a few government schools, students are awarded marks on basis of their classroom performance rather than actual practicals.

The statistics are seen as a major jolt to the claims of state government about improving education standards in Rajasthan. According to experts, this is also one of the reasons why government school students perform poorly in competitive exams.

The pathetic situation is acting as a deterrent for the student’s to perform well in Science stream.
“There is no use of drafting heavy policies as the need of hour is to ensure basic infrastructure in the schools. What students will learn if they do not get a chance even to enter in Science and Computer Science laboratories,” said Rajiv Srivastav, a renowned academician in Rajasthan.

The situation of Computer Science stream in government schools is also a major cause of concern.  According to data, overall only 14.67 per cent of schools have computer labs with internet connectivity.