Maharashtra to train low scoring schools

The Maharashtra state board of secondary and higher secondary education is finally coming up with innovative measures to increase the standard of education in its schools. The board is planning to provide special training to the teachers in the schools where students have not preformed well in their Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams. The special training would be focused on subjects like English and Mathematics that students are weak at, and which are also the major reasons for the high numbers of failures in such schools. As per the initiative by the state board, the schools will now get assistance from the board for better results. According to sources, “The state board will scrutinise the 2010 examination results to see which schools have not performed well. Schools with a low passing percentage will be singled out, and these schools will then be given training in the subjects the students have not performed well in.When contacted, VS Mhatre, secretary, Mumbai division of the state board, said, “There is a plan to train low-performing schools. The training sessions are expected from this year and they will start from those schools which have not performed well in this year’s SSC examination. However, there are still some details to be finalised for the project, like the limit of the passing percentage to determine low performance.”Aasha Desai, principal, Cosmopolitan school, said, “We should appreciate the state board’s initiative. But the board has to take care while forming the resource team for such a programme.” She also added, “It is also important for the board to keep a check on the schools that are filtering the divisions in the Std IX. Even if the data shows that a school’s result was 100 per cent, it does not actually substantiate the school’s standards.”