How govt schools spur tuition centres

The author is expressing her views on education sector

The other day when I asked our handyman Sheesh Pal Singh to come home for some urgent repairs, he told me he was too busy. “Actually, I’m in the process of getting my daughters admission in a government school, and there’s still a lot of paperwork to complete,” he explained. It had taken him over a week already, he said, adding that the earliest he could come and fix my faulty lights was three days later. I asked him what sort of paperwork needed to be done. “Obviously, I’ve had to run around to get their transfer certificates from the private school they’ve been studying in so far,” he said. Government schools today, he informed me, have further requirements. “Aadhaar cards for all students are now mandatory,” he said. “And of course they have to have bank accounts.” While Singh’s daughters were already equipped with Aadhaar cards, they didn’t have bank accounts. Singh was putting together the forms and required documents for this, no mean task, I imagined, for an unlettered migrant. “I’ve had to refuse a couple of work assignments this week,” he said. “Maybe I should have simply hired the tout who approached me outside school… He'd have done all this for Rs 5,000, and I’d have saved myself the stress."

While Singh was chatting with me and repairing my lights, I had to ask a question that had been bugging me. Why was he going to such lengths to shift his children from a private school to a government school? Perhaps, I suggested, he felt that the fees were too big a burden. Or, perhaps the teaching wasn’t all that great? Everything about the children’s present school, Singh said, was great. “In fact, both my daughters, aged seven and 10 respectively, love going to school.” That was, however, one huge opportunity that the private school lacked, which the government school offered — Singh wanted to enroll both his girls in the government’s Ladli scheme.

Under this scheme, he told me, not only would their education become free of cost, the girls would also receive Rs 1 lakh in their names when they passed Class XII. “Last year, the daughter of one of my neighbours passed her Class XII boards and received this benefit,” he said. “Her family was thrilled.” The best thing, he said, was that his wife and he were anyway hell-bent on educating their two daughters and ensuring their better future. “To be able to reap rewards from the government for what we would have done anyway, just seemed too good an opportunity to pass up,” said Singh.  

There was, as there often tends to be, a blip in Singh’s ambitions for his ladli, beloved daughters. He mentioned it only in passing, as if it wasn’t too important. “Have you heard reviews about that large tuition centre near your house,” he asked. “I want to check it out for my girls even though it charges almost as much fees as the private school they’re at present in.” Apparently, the quality of teaching in the government school wasn’t great — and that was when teachers showed up to take class. “Since neither my wife nor I are educated and capable of teaching our children at home, I want to enroll them in a good tuition centre so they’re able to do well in their studies,” he said.

As he left, I wondered whether Singh’s little daughters would have the rosy future their father was dreaming of. Perhaps, their future would be better secured if the government focused on improving the standards of education in its schools, instead of luring students in with the Ladli scheme.