AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat state education department has requested a report from authorities after Dhaval Patel (IAS), who was the commissioner of geology and mining in Gandhinagar, claimed that some primary school students in the Chhotaudepur district couldn’t even read or do basic math calculations.
In a letter he submitted to the education department on June 16, Patel alleged that the education being given to tribal children is “rotten.”
He also said the present education system will only guarantee that the tribal people’s future is spent as labourers who never advance in life.
Kuber Dindor, the state’s education minister who also oversees the cabinet portfolio for tribal development, stated on Monday that he has requested a report from the relevant officials regarding Patel’s findings.
Addressing reporters in Godhra on Monday, Dindor said, “I have requested my department’s representatives to give a comprehensive report so that we can make the required changes. There are various issues in remote tribal territories. In addition, I was born there. There is a dearth of awareness even among parents. We will try to make them aware and fill the gaps.”
Seizing on the report, Gujarat Congress questioned the government’s entire educational system. Manish Doshi, a party spokesman, said, “This is especially true for the poor children of tribal areas like Chhotaudepur. The report indicates how the Gujarat government’s entire educational system works.”
Patel was one of the several IAS officers in the state government who were sent to different districts as part of the 'Shala Praveshotsav' drive to evaluate the overall education scenario in government primary schools assigned to them.
In his letter to Education Secretary Vinod Rao, Patel recalled his visit to the primary school in Timla. “Standard 8 students were reading every letter of a word separately as they could not read an entire word. They were having trouble performing basic mathematical calculations. At Bodgam Primary School, pupils were unable to provide antonyms for common Gujarati words like 'day'. The Himalayas and Gujarat could not be located on the Indian map by a girl student in Class 8,” Patel said.
“At Wadhwan primary school, the level of education was extremely pathetic. Class-5 students cannot do a simple subtraction of 42 minus 18. They even failed to read questions written in English in the question paper they had attempted earlier. Since everyone had written the correct answer in English, I suspect the teacher might have helped them,’’ observed Patel.
“I felt awful seeing such a low level of education in five of six schools. We are doing these tribal children an injustice by providing such a poor education,’’ Patel wrote in his letter.
“We are ensuring that the next generation of tribals remains as labourers and never advance in life. I’m curious how a pupil can’t do simple addition or subtraction after eight years with us,’’ he said.