The Chief Minister Shri Digvijay Singh today made public his response to the intellectuals who had written to him regarding the State Government's decision to remove the compulsion in Hoshangabad district to study only the text books offered by the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme. The Chief Minister stated that this decision was taken with a view to have a common set of text books across all government schools in the state which should draw from best practices from all good initiatives of education including the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme. The Chief Minister further clarified that nowhere in the country is there a practice of adopting an alternative package for any one district when students are required to qualify in a common evaluation system.

The District Planning Committee of Hoshangabad had in February this year decided to adopt the standard text books of the Government. Eklavya a Non Governmental Organization that has been promoting HSTP and experimenting this in Hoshangabad for the last 30 years appealed to the government to reverse the decision of the District Planning Committee. The Department of School Education examined the issue and found that there were genuine causes for parental anxiety as children found it difficult to migrate with ease to higher classes after using an alternative methodology from Class 6 to 8. The review also found that contrary to expectations, children in Hoshangabad have not been doing better in Science inspite of using a reportedly superior methodology. In fact, while 26% of the children failed in the science examinations at the 10 Board level in the state in 2001-2002, in Hoshangabad the failure rate was 30%. 70% children did not score over 50% in Science. HSTP had been teaching Science from Class 6-8 using its own text books and its own examination system.

The Chief Minister also clarified that Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme can no more be called an experiment as it is over 30 years old. He said that if there are good lessons they have to be moved into the mainstream. This is why Government has requested Eklavya to support government in its effort to improve Science teaching through teacher training and development of resource support materials. They have therefore an opportunity to carry over their learning into the larger schooling system. Since there was a common system of evaluation. government cannot abdicate this responsibility and any system will have to be measured by the outcomes of that evaluation.

The government found unacceptable the position of HSTP that they cannot be measured by the common evaluation system which all students including those of Hoshangabad are meant to take. The Government also does not appreciate the point of view that a reportedly superior methodology can fail in delivering basic competencies.

The Chief Minister stated that while he has received letters from some intellectuals inside the country and a few professionals from abroad, there has not been a single request from the people of Hoshangabad against the government's decision. On the contrary in Hoshangabad, people have welcomed the decision.