(This story originally appeared in on May 11, 2018)

Such dismal results for HSC Science – lowest in five years - could not have come at a more appropriate time. While schools have been steadily increasing their fees citing standard of teaching and other facilities, the performance of students exposes the fact that standard of education in Gujarat has only been deteriorating, year after year. How else do you explain this: Of the 16,525 students who appeared for the exam from Ahmedabad district, ONLY 10 have secured A1 grade (percentile rank of score between 91 and 100). Of these 10, only seven are from the city schools.Last year, there were 59 students from Ahmedabad district in A1 category and in 2016 there were 85.Parents wonder if the quality of education offered by schools is inversely proportional to the fees charged because several students from schools that charge reasonable fees have put up a fantastic performance. Dilip Pandya, whose son secured A2 rank, says that the fees charged is not commensurate with the quality of education schools provide.“I was shocked to learn that there are only10 students from Ahmedabad with A1 grade. Either the schools should reduce the fee charged or provide quality education that translates into good scores. Another possible reason for less A1 grades could also be that the students do not pay much attention to subjects like Computer and English.”While maximum number of students who appeared for Class 12 (Science) exam were from Ahmedabad, the district registered the worst performance in A1 category. Surat had a maximum of 63 students in the A1 spot followed by Vadodara with 12 students.State Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said, “This is a matter of concern for us. Only 136 students scoring A1 grade in HSC science warrants attention,” he said. Asked why only 10 students in Ahmedabad district scored A1grade despite schools offering required facilities and infrastructure, he said, “It is difficult to ascertain this change. But we will look into it and take action to ensure the schools perform better. Poor results and fewer A1 students are not only the school’s concern but also of parents and students.”GPCC Chief Amit Chavda attributes the result to “distraction” of BJP government from the core issues like education. “The government is interested only in privatisation and commercialisation of education, not its quality. We have just 10 students with A1 grade in Ahmedabad and only 136 in the state. If the government was worried about education, it would not deploy teachers for digging work and other party programmes,” he said.Kirit Joshi, education expert and a former school principal said, “In Ahmedabad, most parents do not have time to sit with their children. This is not a major problem in Surat. Also, students are focused more on JEE and NEET and the pattern of board exam is completely different. All these factors have led to the grades going down.”Father Fernand Durai, Principal of St Xavier’s School, Gandhinagar, feels that due to competitive exams students have stopped taking board exams seriously. “Focus is more on JEE and NEET exams and not on Class 12 syllabus. Besides, intelligent and highly motivated students are opting for general stream and those opting for science are less.”Speaking on the same lines, Nirav Thakkar, Principal of AG High School, said, “Most studious students are opting for Group B and for them only NEET score is important. Focus is not the boards anymore.”Thakkar further added, “In the semester system, 75% weightage was on multiple-choice questions and 25% was on descriptive questions. However, in the annual exam system, 50% weightage is given to MCQ and 50% to subjective questions. This has also affected the score.”Of the 36 districts, 14 have zero students in A1 grade category. Vrajesh Parikh, principal of Navkar Public School, blames the lifestyle and parental pressure for having such a less number of A1 graders. “Teenagers are distracted a lot and there is considerable pressure of exams. Another major factor that has led to the downfall is the trend of coaching classes and dummy schools. This is a failure of both.”“Not only that, practical marks are not considered in the exam. So students do not have any practical knowledge that can help them in the future. It is strange and quite shameful that when students from rural areas have scored well in spite of lack of facilities, only 10 students from Ahmedabad managed to get an A1 grade,” added Parikh.Megha Bhatt, a scientist and educationist believes that experiential learning will compel students to think out of the box. “I have seen students from villages doing wonders with limited resources and city students, who have everything ready for them, fail as they are unable to think.” Bhatt blames “all of us as a society” for this situation. “Even in the coaching class they are made to write papers several times till they get a full score. When the pressure on students is beyond a certain limit, it leads to such results,” she said.Mansukh Salla, an education expert, said students will take time to adjust to the annual exam system. What is of primary concern to him is whether the current education system is for learning or for rote.“I can challenge that if students with different grades are given the same paper, they would hardly be able to score 50%. Parents are fighting over fee issue but not for quality of education,” he further said.