Round table conference on learning outcomes
Bagh Lingampally: A round table conference was conducted on poor learning outcomes in schools to discuss a new agenda to campaign for learning techniques and the event was organised at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram, Bagh Lingampally on Monday.
Demands
1. Quality education
2. Hone children’s basic skills
3. A wholesome curriculum which encourages the growth of children with varying grasping abilities
4. Equal opportunities to learn
The event titled as “The campaign for learning outcomes” was held to discuss the reasons behind poor quality education provided by government and private schools and institutions in Telangana. Students from class 3,5 and 8 face difficulty in learning and cannot perform basic calculations or form simple sentences and this is not because of disability of the student but the failure of system and policies of education in the state.
Several members of civil society organisations, student organisations, non-government organisations, and educationists participated in the round table conference. Child labour activist Varsha opined “Schools should pay special focus on migrant students because most of them are being marginalized in government schools, and focus on skill development programs because most of the students who work after finishing their education are still considered as unskilled laborers”.
Vikarabad Government school principal said “In spite of having 100 percent attendance for both students and teaches we could not attain better grades or have improvement in the quality of education due to the lack of teaching skills. Though there are over 300 Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) teaching institutions in Telangana only some institutions have proper faculty to teach. We should train the teachers and institutes on wholesome education practices”.
Progressive Democratic Students Union (PDSU) secretary D Ram shared “The hierarchy in education system lives in harmony and the students suffer, because only 6 out of 100 students attain their Post graduation and 50 percent of students drop school before finishing their 10 standard”.
A social activist Shanta Ram was of the opinion that every school manages statistics of staff, food, attendance and reports but there are no statistics for quality of education provided. He added that the government should find a plan for late bloomers and mark their progress, reward them and encourage them to study.
Coordinator of Bachpan Bachao Andolan expressed “Every government teacher should send their children to government schools. There are no proper playgrounds in government schools and in fact 50 percent of schools lack physical education teachers.” The conference brought in a lot of new thoughts and shed light on the key issues being faced by schools.