Govt schools performance poor

By Khalid Khattak

LAHORE: THE 2008 annual Matriculation examination results have exposed the performance of government schools as private schools students have clinched almost all top positions.Noman Khadam, student of a private school, National Model High School Hiran Minar Road, Sheikhupura, secured the over all top position. Muhammad Awais and Hafiz Muhammad Saleem who shared the overall second position respectively also studied at a private school, Pakistan Model High School for Boys Raiwind Road, Kasur. Hafiz Furqan Malik of Government High School Shahdara, however, was the only government school student who stood third. Interestingly, science group (boys and girls) and humanities group (boys and girls) students who topped the examination studied at private schools. Among science group students (boys), Noman Khadam of the National Model High School Sheikhupura stood first, Muhammad Awais and Hafiz Muhammad Saleem of the Pakistan Model High School for Boys, Kasur, stood second and Hafiz Furqan Malik of the Government High School, Shahdara, stood third. Among girls, Ifra Rafaqat of Divisional Public High School for Girls, Model Town, stood first, Izzah Javed of St Domainics Convent Girls High School, Johar Town, and Anam Tanveer of Kasur Public School for Girls, Kasur, shared the second position and Maryam Shahid and Hafsa Siddiqi who shared the third position were students of Aligarh Public High School for Girls, Gulberg, and Laurel Bank Public School for Girls, Baghbanpura. Among humanities group students (boys), Azeemullah of Dar ul Uloom Islamia Boys, Allama Iqbal Town, stood first, Muhammad Zohaib Shafi of Stars Boys High School, GT Road Shahdara, stood second and Hafiz Shahzad Ali of the Pakistan Model High School for Boys, Kasur, stood third.Ayesha Nadeem Butt, Sharish Ghulam Rasool and Hifza Qasim who secured first, second and third positions in humanities group (girls) studied at Farooqi Girls High School Ravi Road, Lahore.Talking to The News, people said it was unfortunate that the standard of education being imparted by government schools was deteriorating.“Instead of competing against private schools, most of the public schools are performing poorly,” commented Sohaib, a citizen. “One could gauge the performance of public schools by the fact that only one government school student was among those who topped this year,” he said. He regretted that despite huge education budget, teacher training programmes and incentives such as free textbooks, students of government-run schools could not make their mark.Kashif, another citizen, said it seemed that government school teachers were not motivated. He said that there was a time when students of government schools topped matriculation examination.When contacted, School Education Secretary Nadeem Ashraf said that though the government schools could not produce more toppers this time, their overall result was better. He said unlike government schools, the management of private schools pay more attention to students. “They (private schools) usually select some brilliant students and focus on them,” he said. Nadeem Ashraf said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had recently approved a performance-based incentive allowance for government schoolteachers adding their promotions had also been linked to performance. He expressed hope that government schools would produce more toppers in coming years.

Source: The News International
Saturday, August 02, 2008