Top official expresses 'concern' over state's ed quality

DIRECTOR of Public Instruction S. Shanavas on Tuesday expressed 'concerns' over the quality of the education saying that the education quality is falling in the state, report online news sites quoting IANS.

“Gone are the days, when the quality of education in Kerala was compared to Europe. It is now being compared to Bihar,” Shanavas said during an interaction with the school teachers, who had met to discuss the conduct of the upcoming Class X and XII examinations to be held in March 2024.

He said that every year around 69,000 students get A+ but there are also students among them who don't even know how to write correctly.

“Some of them even do not know how to write their name correctly. This is gross injustice with the other students,” he said.

Following Shanavas's remarks, there was uproar in the state prompting State Education Minister V. Sivankutty to respond.

The minister said that not much needs to be looked into a statement made during a routine meeting of teachers. “These remarks should not be mistaken as that of the state government,” the minister said.

He said that the policy of the government is to protect and improve the quality of education standards in the state.

“Kerala’s education standards have been applauded by UNICEF and have been ranked high in the national rankings as well. We aim to strengthen it even further,” the minister said.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) V.D Satheesan said that the government should take note of what has been pointed out.

In Kerala, the pass percentage of Class X reached as high as 99 per cent as compared to three decades ago, when it was around 60 to 70 per cent.

In 2023, around 4.5 lakh students appeared for the SSLC Class X public examination and the overall pass percentage was 99.70.