Teachers cite lack of focus by students

Tirupati: Though the officials of education department in the erstwhile Chittoor district were proudly saying that the district has fared well in the SSC examinations as it stood in fourth place in the state, the steep fall in the pass percentage has been causing concerns among parents and teachers. Out of 51,912 students who attended the examinations in the erstwhile district, 38,530 have passed with a pass percentage of 74.22 which is the lowest in a decade.

The government itself has attributed the poor results to the Covid pandemic that hit the education sector hard among several other fields. However, teachers, educationists and parents show different reasons for the poor percentage. They allege that preparing the students for the examinations was not that serious and the whole exercise had gone out of gear in many schools and students became the victims.

Several teachers were of the view that the attitude of students has witnessed a major change towards education. Now, many students have developed a reckless tendency and not caring about the words of teachers and even parents saying that they are helpless.

A teacher working in ZP high school near Tirupati observed that the concentration levels have significantly come down and making them attend the formative assessment examinations had become a herculean task.

Though special classes were conducted from November only 30-40 percent have attended them. Academic year has started in August after a break of two years and the students have clearly not accustomed to the studies. Most of them are addicted to mobile phones and are not in a position to sit for long hours in schools.

Another teacher said that there should be a continuation of education from class 8 to class 10 which was missing. Students have found it difficult to understand the concepts directly in class 10 without studying them in the previous two years. This has developed some sort of pressure on young minds.

The change in examination pattern in giving choice has also adversely affected the results. Also, instead of two papers for each subject, now there was only one paper. This has increased the burden on the students as they were forced to study a vast subject. A former headmaster opined that clearly the government and the teachers have not focussed on preparing the students for SSC examinations which has reflected in the results. These types of failures adversely affect the students in their future endeavours.