Protest against closure of Hoshangabad Science Teaching Program

Friday, July 14, 2002
Shri Digvijay Singh,
Honorable Chief Minister,
Government of Madhya Pradesh,
Bhopal.


Dear Shri Digvijay Singh,

Subject: Protest against the proposed closure of the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Program.

We have been following the recent developments on the HSTP with a great deal of concern. It was reported by The Hindu in it's June 30 edition that the District Planning Committee of Hoshangabad has decided that status quo will be maintained as far as it's earlier recommendation to close down HSTP is concerned. We also received information that Ms. Amita Sharma (Secretary, Elementary Education and Commisioner, State Education Centre) has issued a letter on 3rd July, 2002 informing the Collector, Hoshangabad, of a government decision to discontinue the use of HSTP books and examination system.

These steps taken by the government are extremely shocking and disappointing to many educationists and intellectuals, both within and outside India. You might be aware of a previous petition to you in which many such people from across the world came out in support of HSTP unequivocally (http://www.petitiononline.com/3214/petition.html). In addition, there has been a great deal of support for HSTP from parents and children of Hoshangabad itself. We believe that the steps to shut down HSTP are extremely pre-mature because of the following reasons:

1. Ms. Sharmas letter has preempted the process of an in-depth academic review of the program as ordered by you in the meeting convened on March 3, 2002. We demand that an independent panel of eminent scientists and educationists be involved in reviewing the program, and that any steps to discontinue this program should not be taken before such a review is completed. The State Advisory Board of Education could be asked to oversee this process. In this context, it is important to note that a prior study conducted by the NCERT, at the behest of the MHRD, has come out strongly in favor of HSTP and recommended the extension of the program to the entire country!

2. Closure of HSTP has been ordered before the process of developing a state-wide initiative for improving science education is in place. Although you have referred to such an initiative in public, there have been no steps taken by the government to formulate this. Instead you are stopping a proven and time-tested endeavour such as HSTP.

3. There were references made by Shri R. Gopalakrishnan, Secretary to the Chief Minister, to a quick data collection and analysis they had done of Class 10 examination results of one year (2002), that apparently reflected that Hoshangabad ranked about the 20th out of 45 districts in \% of students getting first divisions in Science & in overall pass percentages. Shri Gopalakrishnan implied that this meant that there was no positive effect of HSTP in Hoshangabad.

We feel that it is extremely unfair to assess the impact of HSTP by analyzing the results in these examinations only. HSTP encourages the learning of science by understanding topics, that too at the middle-school level. To expect that this should make an overall impact for ALL subjects at the Class X Board exam is an illogical step in evaluating HSTP. If the positive impact of HSTP on the learning of science is to be assessed as part of an overall review, it needs to be done at the middle school level itself.

Besides, the present examinations at Class X level are largely confined to testing of information-recall with little or no emphasis on testing a student for problem solving, experimental or analytical skills or conceptual understanding. Since HSTP gives more emphasis to development of these skills as per the guidelines of the National Curricular Framework and discourages learning by rote, it would be unfair to assess the impact of HSTP by analyzing the results in these examinations only. We would like to add that the science-learning methodology implemented by HSTP is being accepted and followed in more and more in many parts of the world today. We strongly urge your government to organize a review for fair assessment in keeping with the times.

We understand that the nature of the data that was presented by Shri Gopalakrishnan in support of his hypothesis is totally inadequate and extremely selective in nature. There have been other studies that show that HSTP students are able to cope just as well as the other students inspite of de-emphasizing rote learning. Other analysis of cross district data for three consecutive years showed that Hoshangabad district was among the better performing districts in competitive examinations. The review process should include an autonomous scrutiny of the data by educationists and scientists of high standing so that proper conclusions are arrived at.

We once again strongly urge that the ordered closure of HSTP be withdrawn immediately. We urge you to appoint review of the programme by an independent committee of eminent educationists and scientists. The State Advisory Board of Education could be asked to oversee this process. We would like to emphasize that such a hasty and improper decision taken by the government agencies will only send the signal that the state is indifferent to the proper education of your children. We find it ironic that a government that claims to distinguish itself through its progressive outlook should take such a regressive step in ordering closure of HSTP.

We would like to re-affirm our support and solidarity to Eklavya and other groups that are striving to improve the quality of education through programs like the HSTP, and strongly urge that the ordered closure of HSTP be withdrawn immediately.

Here is the website for HSTP that lists the articles, documents and recent developments about the program.