Sunday, 14 May 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Students of Atal Utkrisht Vidyalayas perform badly in CBSE examinations
The dismal performance shown by the students of the Atal Utkrisht Vidyalayas (AUVs) in the Class X and XII results of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) shows how poor planning and apathetic attitude of the authorities can become detrimental to any project. A brainchild of former Education minister Arvind Pandey, a total of 155 government schools in Uttarakhand were given the tag of AUVs and were affiliated with the CBSE to make them popular with the people. Pandey had announced that apart from being based on the CBSE pattern, English would be the medium of instruction in these schools. He was very enthusiastic about these schools and was planning to convert more government schools to AUVs. However Pandey was not picked up by Pushkar Singh Dhami in his cabinet when he took over as the chief minister in his second stint after victory of the party in Assembly elections of 2022.
The School Education department came under Dhan Singh Rawat and with it the AUVs went out of focus in the scheme of things. The department did select some teachers with English medium background for appointment in these schools but the teachers took it as an opportunity to get transferred to the schools located near Dehradun, Haldwani and Haridwar. As expected, the teachers showed no interest in getting transferred to the AUVs located in remote locations. Further, the department made no efforts to provide training to the teachers and a large number of these schools functioned without regular principals. Similarly, the department brushed aside the suggestion that guest teachers or contractual teachers should be appointed in these schools. An officer of the department conceded that no effort was made to strengthen the schools and prepare them for a smooth transition from the pattern of Uttarakhand board to CBSE.
Educationist BS Negi informed The Pioneer that teachers in the AUVs were not habituated with the system of submitting different formats to the CBSE and they spent a lot of time on this practice of CBSE. He said that in the Rajiv Gandhi Navodaya Vidyalayas, guest teachers were appointed on vacant posts so that studies were not affected and it reflected in excellent results of these schools. In AUVs the guest teachers were not appointed. Negi who has recently taken a voluntary retirement from the department from the post of additional director accepted that lack of planning was one of the major reasons for poor performance of the students of AUVs.
In the class XII result of CBSE declared on Friday only 51.49 per cent of students of AUVs were able to clear the examination. Similarly in class X the pass percentage of students of AUVs was 60.49. After they came into existence last year, this was the first time when the students of AUVs appeared in CBSE examinations. The poor performance in the CBSE examinations has put the concept of AUVs under the scanner and it is very likely that the government could put the process of conversion of more schools into AUVs on hold.
