Taking strong exception to the government decision to raise the number of Plus One seats by 10% in higher secondary schools (HSS), the Nair Service Society (NSS) has said the move will bring down the quality of education in the sector.
In a statement here on Saturday, NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair said the increase in seats for HSS batches over the previous years had already engendered a crisis.
“While the existing system stipulated the maximum number of student intake in a batch at 50, the government raised the number of seats up to 30% after admission procedures commenced in the previous year. Due to this sudden move, up to 65 students were forced to sit in classrooms originally meant for 50 students. This has affected the smooth functioning of schools as well as the overall quality of education,” he said.
While the Education Department has attributed the latest decision to the higher number of applicants in some districts, he said that several schools had failed to get even the minimum number of students to maintain the batch.
“It is unfair that the government has decided to increase seats, even in districts that do not even have a single applicant for supplementary allotments. This has come at a time when thousands of seats are lying vacant in government/aided schools even after the completion of supplementary allotments in the previous year,” Mr. Nair said.
According to him, the reports suggested that the number of students eligible for higher studies had indeed come down by 9,000 when compared to last year. “In such a situation, increasing the number of Plus One seats unscientifically and without following any particular set of criteria would affect the sector adversely. A better solution here will be to raise seats only in regions having high numbers of applicants and this too should be based on some scientific analysis,” he added.
