North districts on a slippery SSLC slope

Of the six districts - Bidar, Gulbarga, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, and Bellary - none has approached the State passing  average of 68.77 per cent. Bidar, which is geographically located at the head of Karnataka is however at the foot of the result map, last of the 30 districts. Its passing percentage of 32.27 is lower than half of the State average. Of the 34 educational districts, it has the dubious distinction of being on the bottom occupying the 34th place, one place lower than last year. The dismal performance of Bidar has baffled the officers of the Education Department.

“We did not expect such a poor performance by Bidar. We have to analyse the results to know the reasons. In order to improve the performance of the region, we may have to take certain drastic steps from the next academic year,’’ Additional Commissioner Syed Abdul Rub of the Education Commissionerate told Deccan Herald. The special teaching measures which used to begin in December would be advanced to July, he said.

When the North East Education Commissionerate was formed here in the year 2000 by the S M Krishna government, half of the total outlay of the department of Primary and Secondary Education was pumped in to the new Commissionerate to improve the education standards. Akshara Dasoha was vigorously implemented, all the vacant posts of teachers were filled up, rigorous training programmes were held. Yet, there has been impact.

At that time two more districts Bagalkot and Bijapur were also attached to it. It is heartening that both the districts, now part of the Dharwad Commissionerate, have shown improvement by surpassing the State average this time by registering 73.77 and 68.79 per cent respectively. But the districts of Gulbarga region continue to languish.

More worrisome is the decline in the performance of all the six districts in the Gulbarga region compared to the previous year. The biggest slide - 19.86 per cent has been registered in Yadgir district followed by 6.11 per cent in Koppal. The downslide of other districts are: Gulbarga 7.24, Raichur 6.5, Bellary 7.85, and Bidar 8.85 per cent.

The change of examination pattern may have contributed marginally for the downslide result but the failure of the system comprising all the stakeholders of education to deliver goods is the main reason. The unabated en masse malpractices in the examinations with the alleged connivance of teachers at several places has not helped even to understand where exactly they stand. In this context the result of Bidar, as a teacher pointed out, may be realistic one due to the strict measures initiated there to curb the examination related malpractices.

The poor performance of some of the districts of Gulbarga region in education is said to be a major impediment in the improvement of human development scenario of Karnataka as a whole.