HYDERABAD: Around 20 private schools registering zero pass percentage, among the total 28, in the Telangana SSC examination results announced on Wednesday, has left parents and experts, alike shocked.
In contrast, eight government schools - one government high school, two zilla parishad schools and five unaided schools secured zero pass percentage. Interestingly, Hyderabad which has the highest number of private schools in the state has been ranked at the 29th position among the 31 districts of the state with 73.26 per cent pass percentage, finishing only above only Suryapet (67.15 per cent) and Wanaparthy (64.81 per cent).
‘It’s a wake-up call’
“It’s a wake-up call for school managements to look into the matter and find the cause. I feel maybe these schools didn’t have pre-final exams. Maybe if they did, these results have shown and then the managements could have taken remedial measures,” Maya Sukumaran, principal of Gitanjali Senior School, Begumpet, said.
Common perception, she said, is that government schools lag behind in education but it is alarming that it is private schools students who have failed en masse. She said that sub-standard or untrained teachers could be the possible reason for such results.
Failure of government?
Educationist Chukka Ramaiah sees the results, not as a failure of students but as the failure of government that didn’t act against ill-equipped schools. “Several schools don’t have infrastructure or finances.
They don’t appoint teachers and run schools with two or three people who may not even be qualified to teach. No classes are conducted but students are allowed to sit for the exams. Under such circumstances, students will fail,” he said. He added that govenment can’t disown private colleges.
‘Ready to send children to govt schools’
Aravinda, who is also a member of the Hyderabad Students Parents Association (HSPA) which is spearheading the fight aginst fee hike by private schools said that, if the State government ensured good quality of education, people would be happy to send their children to government schools instead of private ones.