By Dr Prashant Thapliyal
The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, inaugurated a newly constructed building of PM Shri Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV), Khatima, on 29 July 2025 which cost Rs 26.23 crore to the Central Government. He averred in his speech that if this KV existed during his childhood, he would have studied there. The head of the state government making such statement means a lot and puts a question mark on the functioning of the state school education department working under his command.
The author served in different KVs as a Post Graduate Teacher (PGT) in Physics for a period of nearly seven years before joining his present assignment. The credit for big reforms in KVS functioning goes to HM Caire, an ex-IAS officer who took over as KVS Commissioner in 1999. As an incumbent, he changed the recruitment process by making written tests compulsory at all levels and giving opportunities to all who met minimum educational qualification unlike the practice then in which only few candidates who stood above the cutoff points were called for direct interviews. This step brought a ray of hope for those candidates whose academic credentials were not very strong, but their conceptual clarity of the subject was good. This helped develop a deserving teachers’ force that was ready to deliver their best. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to appear in the written exam and clear it. Prior to it, I applied three times but was never called for an interview. At the same time, he built up a system of deliverance in which everyone in the chain of command was made responsible for the students’ performance, be it in Academics, Sports, Science /Social Science exhibitions, etc. This decree helped in getting full involvement of teachers in the holistic development of their students. Those who did not fall in line either quit service voluntarily or were forced to do so. Teachers prepared study materials and question banks catering to the needs of all categories of the students, i.e. intelligent ones, average performers and underachievers. Extra classes for the needy ones were arranged, and a periodic testing mechanism was developed. Initially, there was reluctance among some teachers who had spent a long span of their teaching career in the old system and were not accustomed to this corporate like environment, yet they adopted it eventually. The goals of learning outcomes in the form of results of Board and internal examinations were set. Analysis of quantitative results (pass percentage) and qualitative results (Performance Indicator or PI) was carried out at regional levels and, accordingly, need-based teachers training programmes were organised for improving the content delivery hence improving the assimilation level of students. Through these programmes teachers were trained to make the topics lucid for the students and the question banks were developed according to the CBSE pattern using NCERT books. Periodic assessment and counselling sessions of teachers were carried out and on the basis of the appraisal, the under performers were either warned or penalised in terms of withholding the annual increments or awarding punishment postings to priority areas (hard stations). Initially there was an all-round hue and cry due to this unprecedented action but soon it became part of the system. Though I believe in the principle of giving academic freedom to the teachers for better content delivery and yielding good results in the end, but this top down approach in the KVS functioning became beneficial for the students.
Such were the rigours of the system that the author, despite being on paternity leave (PL) after birth of his daughter, attended the school regularly to take extra classes for slow learners who were to appear in the class 12 Board examination, braving the ire of the spouse who was in need of assistance through the day and night. My daughter had undergone major surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi after a few months of her birth and was on observation while recuperating post-surgery. So, doctors advised us to remain near the AIIMS for a few days, but I left to rejoin duty at the school after making some alternative arrangements so that students’ academic classes did not suffer.
In view of better upkeep of the schools’ premises and to meet petty expenses, Rs 100 per month were added in the school fee in the form of Vidyalaya Vikas Nidhi (VVN) and Principals were authorised to make the best use of the corpus thus generated. School’s security staff and sanitation staff were hired from this fund and other expenditures including achievement awards for students, infrastructural maintenance, etc., were also provided. Students were exposed to various outdoor activities including trekking and excursions. Such initiatives not only improved the academic environment of the schools, these made students well versed in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities too. Nowadays, getting admission to a KV is not as easy as it used to be in the past. Moreover, the admission procedure is transparent and there is minimum or no scope of tampering with it.
In Uttarakhand, state schools are totally funded by the state government with free education at primary level, nominal fees for boys at secondary level and free education for girls at both primary and secondary levels. Uttarakhand has allocated 16.8% of its expenditure on education which is 2.1% higher than the previous year’s budgetary allocation. A major chunk of this budget (more than 80%) is spent on pay and perks of the staff, leaving behind a small sum for infrastructural development and maintenance. For this purpose, the state seeks help from the Centre and philanthropists as well. The Central Government allotted Rs 1205 crore for year 2023-24 and Rs 750 crore for the year 2024-25 under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme, of which 33% is allocated for infrastructure development and maintenance and rest 67% for academics that includes purchasing books, organising education fairs, remedial classes and other related activities. With a meagre sum in hand and vested interests galore, the quality of work is often compromised that results in speedy damage to the infrastructure. As a result, as many as 145 primary schools spread over 11 districts are being run in rented houses as the school buildings are in a dilapidated state and Government has asked the school education department to conduct a comprehensive survey to identify buildings in a dilapidated state requiring major repair work or new construction, learning a lesson from a recent school building collapse in Rajasthan resulting in fatalities. The Government is inviting the corporate sector to support the infrastructure development in the schools and 550 corporate houses such as IGL, Relaxo Footwear, Convegenius, Taj Group, Gondwana Research, etc., and the Uttarakhand diaspora have given their consent in a welcome move.
Dwindling students’ strength and shortage of teachers adds woes to the existing rickety system. Many parents are sending their wards to the Public Schools, which yield better results and good exposure to co-curricular activities albeit with underpaid teaching and support staff. The author studied in the Government schools of Bhatwari (Taknor), district Uttarkashi, from the primary level to class 12th affiliated to the UP Board. Resources were scarce as well then, but the commitment of the teachers was paramount. I remember playing sports such as Baseball and Handball way back in 1983 when our Physical Training Instructor (PTI), who was incidentally my beloved father, went to see the Asiad 1982 to New Delhi and purchased the mentioned sports kits for us and prepared playgrounds for these sports also. Additionally, he was the Teacher-Incharge for running a school owned book shop. The books and stationery were sold at subsidised rates to the students and profit from the sales was utilised for meeting infrastructural and other requirements of the school. When the approach bridge to our school (Government Inter College Bhatwari Taknor, Uttarkashi) was damaged during a massive flood in the Bhagirathi in 1978, he went in a trolley which was around 8 kms away and then took a jungle route to reach the school. All the books were transferred through a luggage trolley over river Bhagirathi in Bhatwari and the same were distributed to the students. The school was also run smoothly in the primary school building. Our science teacher, US Negi, regularly took us to science labs, made us learn dissection of the frog at class 10th level; the Hindi teacher HP Bahuguna made us efficient in Hindi and Sanskrit, both. I started learning English from class six but soon developed interest in it thanks to our English teachers. The few instances mentioned here will help inspire the teaching faculty of modern times to do the same and yield good results. There are some dedicated teachers present these days, also, who are doing yeoman’s service. Strict monitoring, good governance and zeal to deliver are the need of the hour if authorities are really serious about improving the conditions of state schools to produce future nation builders. VVN should be made an integral part of the school fee and for the wards of below poverty line (BPL) category; contribution should be made by the Government. Responsibility should be fixed in the chain of command for producing qualitatively and quantitatively good results and for not delivering satisfactorily in the respective fields. Everyone in the chain of command from top to bottom should own responsibility and face the consequences as per procedures.
I hope with more sincerity at the Government’s end and the Education Department and active contribution of parents, the future of the students studying in Government schools will see some ray of hope and parents will send their wards to these schools enthusiastically as is the case with KVs.
(Dr Prashant Thapliyal is Associate Professor, Army Cadet College, IMA, Dehradun, and ex- PGT, KVS.)
