Tamil Nadu’s Education Scene

I had earlier written a piece asking for more CBSE schools in Tamil Nadu and drew flak from many from the Tamil Nadu State Board Schools. Well, I don’t mean to beat around the bush and say ‘politically correct’ but ‘practically insignificant’ things. I write for progress and change. Here is how the state board education system sucks in Tamil Nadu.

Let us look at the number of children entering the IITs from the TN State Board. Here are some infographic reports that tell what we already know yet don’t want to acknowledge. This is for the year 2017. 

 

Why such an abysmal statistic when the TN state board’s education system is supposed to be ‘top class’? What ails the education system?

Even within IIT-Madras, the admission statistic paints a gloomy picture. Here what it says:

Out of these state board students who have joined the IITs, it would be a no-brainer to say that most of the students would have been from private schools affiliated to the state board and not the government schools. ( I don’t have data to substantiate this, but that could well be the case). And students would have attended expensive coaching classes for clearing the JEE.

For a moment, let us consider that the IIT-JEE entrance exam isn’t the barometer of excellence. Then the following data paints an even abysmal picture. TN’s mean score in English and Mathematics is way below the national average and abysmally below the mean scores from CBSE and ICSE boards. 

There is nothing wrong with the students. It is the state board, its curriculum and the woefully under-motivated teachers who are responsible for letting down the students who, for no fault of theirs, had chosen to study in Tamil Nadu’s State Board schools. 

Well, we can choose to recognise the lacuna and correct it or bury our heads in the sands of past glory and pretend as though all is well. 

Would the state government wake up?