On Primary Education

In July 2016, the State Government constituted a Committee on Education to study the system of grants and financial support to government and government-aided primary schools and to recommend measures to improve their overall efficiency. The Committee submitted its report last January. It has not been made public.

Goa has made significant progress in the field of education over the last 50 years. This is mainly due to government-aided and private institutions. Government schools themselves are in an appalling condition. Attendance at several government primary schools, which I visited over the last few years, was almost 100 per cent but in the circumstances in which most of them function, there is not much learning to be done. Four classes are often taught simultaneously in one classroom and in some cases eight classes in two languages. There are no black boards or they are not repaired, rice bags for the mid-day meal, discarded furniture, school records, etc. are all bundled together in the same classroom along with the children. The students in government schools are as bright and intelligent as their counterparts in private schools. What is lacking is the minimum infrastructure. As a result all those who can afford, enrol their children in private schools. The children in government primary schools come from the poorer sections of society and their parents are often illiterate. These students require special attention but on the contrary they get no attention at all. Government primary schools have suffered from what might be called a