(From left) Yameen Mazumder, the Unicef chief in Bihar, HRD minister PK Shahi and Rajesh Bhushan, the state project director of Bihar Education Project Council, at the seminar in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, July 14: The quality of education in the state has gone up in the past few years but still there is a lot of work to be done, suggests an Unicef survey.

According to the survey carried out in select government schools in 27 districts, 89 per cent of schools were found to be functioning without a fixed routine and 81 per cent of schools were found lacking an evaluation process.

These results were today revealed at a two-day workshop organised by the state human resource development (HRD) department and Unicef at a city hotel. Shweta Shandilya, an educational expert from Unicef, presented the data to the delegates present.

The two-day workshop also aims to gather suggestions for an ambitious programme of the state government — Samjhen-Sikhen — that will be formally inaugurated on August 15. The programme, which is aimed at making quality education available in government schools, will run under the Bihar Education Project Council of the HRD department with support from Unicef.

On the survey, Shandilya said though more teachers have been recruited in schools and facilities like mid-day meals and cycles for transportation have been ensured to maintain students’ interest in education, development in the actual learning level of students has been slow.

She said: “In August last year, Unicef, Patna, carried out a survey, where the learning level of students from classes II to V was evaluated, in select schools in 27 districts. While 82 per cent students of Class II were found unable to even copy sentences from their Hindi textbooks, 68 per cent of Class V students were unable to read Hindi prose in Class IV textbooks. Sixty-six per cent students in Class II were found unable to count from one to hundred and 96 per cent were found unable to calculate time in hours, minutes and seconds.”

Shandilya said there is need for an in-depth understanding of the crisis in the education sector and emphasis should be laid on the classes. “Several teachers in government school did not have proper knowledge of the syllabus. They also did not know how to make learning an enjoyable experience, which is essential in primary education.”

HRD minister P.K. Shahi said: “Education is the requirement of every child. With education, a child can chart out his/her own path, which will also help in the development of the state. The government will provide infrastructure required to remove the deficiencies in the sector. Our programme, Samjhen-Sikhen, will work to ensure availability of quality education. After the inauguration of the programme, it will be taken to every district. Our emphasis is to take Bihar to the topmost position in education in the next three to four years.”

District-level education officers, Rajesh Bhushan, the state project director of Bihar Education Project Council, and Yameen Mazumder, the Unicef chief in Bihar, were also present at the workshop.