Pondicherry: Education is among the few and most important sectors, which had been attracting the attention of the Territorial Administration in its plan programmes and allocation of funds. In fact the Administration had been earmarking as much as Rs 55 crore per annum for the development of education so that infrastructure facilities in the government schools are specifically taken care of. Classes functioning in thatched sheds are being replaced with concrete structures in a phased manner and there is no difference between the rural and urban pockets in so far as availability of facilities are concerned. At one stage the allocation for buildings alone was around Rs 13 crore every year.

However the pass percentage registered by most of the government schools in the SSLC examinations leaves much to be desired.

Out of 9,966 students presented by 95 government-run schools at the examination, a total of 6260 students passed out (pass percentage being 62.81) in the examination. Further, each of the sixty schools out of these 95 institutions has witnessed decline in pass percentage this time when compared to their performance last year. The remaining 35 have performed well. No government school has however produced cent percent pass.

A random review of the pass percentage registered by the government schools here brings to the fore the pathetic picture of some of the institutions. For instance the NKC Government Girls Higher Secondary School at Kurusukuppam in Pondicherry town could register only 25 percentage of passes, compared to 47.5 last year. The Government High School at Arumbarthapuram registered 31.08 per cent, compared to 64.85 in 2005. The government should pay full-fledged attention to tone up education at the secondary level. There is an intensive effort on the part of the government to set up a Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board at the State level. Presently the schools in Pondicherry and Karaikal districts adopt the curriculum and pattern of syllabus of Tamil Nadu for the high school and higher secondary school public examinations, while Mahe and Yanam regions adopt the curriculum and syllabus of the neighbouring States of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh respectively. Once a separate Board comes into being the Union Territory would have its own curriculum and syllabus.

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