Press Release
Hoshangabad Science : The State Government's Decision
and Unanswered Questions
July 13, 2002
A few days back the state government issued orders to close down the
Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme. This decision has raised a lot
of questions regarding procedural transparency and it has become
necessary that these are deliberated upon.
The Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme (HSTP) is an educational
programme for the improvement of school education and it was started in
1972 by two voluntary organisations. Later, in 1978 it was spread to the
entire district of Hoshangabad and during 1983-86 it was seeded in 13
other districts in one school complex each. HSTP has been acclaimed as
an implementable programme in various educational and scientific fora.
The decision of the state government to close the programme was issued
by the Commissioner, Rajya Shiksha Kendra on July 3, 2002. The letter
states that the programme has been closed on the basis of the
recommendation of the District Planning Committee (DPC) meeting of
February 7, 2002. This reason in itself is illogical in many ways. To
begin with, at the DPC meeting on February 7, 2002, when the proposal
for closure of the programme was passed, no departmental report on this
issue was tabled for the DPC members. Neither does the DPC have any
facility for soliciting expert advise. The BJP MLA, Dr. Sitasaran Sharma
did not present any substantial reasons while moving the proposal to
close the programme
either. So, while deliberating upon the DPC recommendation, the state
government should have analysed the deliberations, on the basis of which
the recommendation was passed. There is no proof of any such analysis.
After the meeting, when the DPC members were made aware of the facts,
most of the members agreed that this issue definitely needed to be
reviewed and wrote letters to this effect to the Chairperson of the DPC.
A review of this previous recommendation was done in the DPC meeting
held on May 9, 2002 and after a detailed discussion, the decision was
left to the Chief Minister.
Hence, the state government's decision to close the program based on the
DPC recommendation of February 7, 2002 has no logical basis. It is to be
noted here that the report from the Education Department presented to
the DPC on May 9, 2002 had many factual mistakes and falsities in it.
These also need to be looked into in-depth. Eklavya had then replied to
these issues in detail.
The Chief Minister yesterday expressed views at a press conference in
Hoshangabad that the state government has decided to implement the same
curriculum all over the state. But the order issued by Ms. Amita Sharma
mentions only the Hoshangabad district. There are no clarifications for
the curriculum to be followed by the other districts. Although, copies
of the above have been marked and sent to District Collectors of all the
districts where the programme is running. It seems that it is being
indicated to them that they are to follow the same procedure in their
districts. This is an attempt to project the DPC as representing the
opinions of the residents of a district, whereas in reality it is an
extension of the state government. It
is essential to point out here that in this way, the state government is
shirking from its responsibility and accountability to take decisions.
Another important question that arises in this context is - who will
answer the questions that are raised with regard to this decision - the
state government or the DPC? And what will be the forum where they
address these questions? The state government has not yet clarified what
its assessment of the programme is. In fact, the Chief Minister had
instructed a detailed review of the entire programme. The results of
such a review could have been the basis of decisions regarding the
programme. The above review should have been conducted with the help of
scientists and educationists and its results should have been made
public. But when Secretary to the CM, Shri R. Gopalakrishnan was
contacted in this matter, he
presented some rough and incomplete data and said that on the basis of
these the government had come to a conclusion that the results of the
programme had not been good. This is a bureaucratic ridicule of the
review process. Shri Gopalakrishnan presented some selected data of the
results of class 10th, only for one academic year. He also said that
this programme had also adversely affected the overall literacy rate of
the district!!! It is evident that the state government has not
conducted any proper review or evaluation. The decision of the state
government on the basis of insufficient data is an insult to the
successful running of the programme for 30 long years.
As far as the logic of implementing one curriculum all over the state,
goes, the question arises - where will the ideas for improvement of
education come from? And how and where will these ideas be then tested?
The state governments own experimentation with the Seekhna Sikhana
package shows that experimentation is extremely important in the context
of quality improvement in education. Contextually-specific,
child-centred education also requires that the shackles of
standardisation be loosened.
There is one more important aspect of the process of this decision that
needs careful examination. Ms. Amita Sharma did not think it important
to take Eklavya into confidence before or while sending the order letter
dated July 3, 2002. Neither was a copy marked to Eklavya. HSTP is a
pioneering experiment and has - thus far - been considered a successful
experiment in governmental and non-governmental partnership. But this
kind of a one-sided decision from the government naturally destroys this
spirit of partnership. It seems that the government has come full circle
and arrived at a decision that it is going to function only in a
bureaucratic manner.
It is also to be noted that since 1987 Eklavya has also been
implementing an innovative experiment of Social Science Teaching in
eight selected schools of Harda, Hoshangabad and Dewas district under
the aegis of the SCERT. This programme required a annual extension from
the state government. Eklavya has been requesting the government for the
past two years, for a high level review of the programme to be followed
by its expansion. The process of this review has not been initiated as
yet. Meanwhile, Eklavya has undertaken a review of the programme with
the help of eminent educationists and social scientists and submitted a
copy of the report to the government. By keeping silent on the request
of Eklavya to
extend the programme for the present academic year, the government has
in a way closed this programme too. Isn't the closing down of a
programme - based on innovative pedagogy, current sociological thinking
and secular ideals - a regressive step for the government to take?
Eklavya was founded with the goal of taking good quality, relevant and
meaningful education, not to the elite sections of society, but to the
common people. Innumerable educationists, scientists, subject experts
and research scholars are associated with Eklavya's programmes on a
voluntary basis. The most common source of education for the common
people are government schools and local private schools. Eklavya will
continue to work in this larger education system with the objective of
contributing to the improvement of education. We will not only
collaborate with teachers, students,
parents and school managements closely, but will also continue with our
efforts to contribute to the government education system. But along with
this, the government should also review and adapt its policy and
practices to give capable and committed groups like Eklavya a
respectable, workable and democratic space to carry out its educational
innovations.
(Kamal Mahendroo)
for Eklavya
Kothi Bazaar, Hoshangabad