Schools’ association blames govt, poor syllabus for drop in SSLC pass percentage

BENGALURU: The Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS) has blamed the government’s regulations for the poor performance of students in the recent SSLC examination.

Addressing a press conference, KAMS general secretary D Shashikumar said grace marks, poor syllabus and the rules being followed by the Primary and Secondary Education Department were responsible for the poor performance of students.

“For the last 10 years, the syllabus was revised for political reasons and this is creating pressure on students. Along with improved syllabus, the rules for passing marks should be revised, otherwise the future of students will be at stake. Also, there was confusion over conducting board exams for classes 5, 8 and 9 this year. By the time students reach Class 10, they should have a strong educational foundation, but the government’s rules are becoming a hurdle. The government should look into these issues, but we are unable to meet the education minster. His assistant Kishore has himself become the education minister”, Shashikumar said.

“The quality of education is dipping and there are issues with the state syllabus. The SSLC results this year are pathetic. The education department has admitted that the results have dropped after webcasting was introduced and this is unfortunate. Senior officials, political leaders, the government, all are responsible for the situation. The education system is in disarray. We will write to the CM about it. The Primary Education Minister is not available and his PA behaves like he is the minister himself”, Shashikumar alleged.

He also noted that children were shifting to ICSE and CBSE because of the problems with the state syllabus. “There’s a big conspiracy behind this. Influential individuals are associated with the big schools and officials have turned a blind eye”, he added. Representatives of KAMS Karnataka, Karnataka Unaided School Management Association (KUSMA), Federation of Minority Institutions, Karnataka Private School Managements, Teaching & Non-Teaching Staff Co-ordination Committee (KPMTCC) and others were present.