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For
a change, let us have a look at the bright side
of Bihar.
Bihari students are the most intelligent! Is it
a surprising news? Or a cruel joke? In fact, it
is the truth. Now we have some pleasant thing to
feel proud and happy because high standards in
things positive are seldom associated with our
state.
A National Council of Education Research and
Training (NCERT) survey conducted in 20 states
in 2005 found that while six out of 10 students
in Bihar’s classrooms are intelligent enough
that they could understand what they were
taught. In states like Uttar Pradesh, Goa and
Chhattisgarh the number did not even cross five
out of 10 children.
According to NCERT survey, “64% of Bihari
students followed their lessons as compared with
the national average of 52%. Even in highly
literate Kerala, less than 50% of students
understood their lessons.”
The survey was conducted by the NCERT to
evaluate the learning skills of Class V
students, especially in mathematics and
languages. The study was also aimed at examining
teaching skills in primary schools. A detailed
questionnaire based on the syllabus was
distributed to students in the survey states.
The results were no less than a big surprise
that some of the best students were from Bihar’s
ramshackle schools.
This nationwide survey on primary school
learning reveals that Bihar’s school students
are the country’s fastest learners. In
mathematics, the percentage among Bihar’s
children was 63%, while the national average is
just 47%. About 65% Bihari students understood
their language classes as against the national
average of 58%. The findings of the NCERT survey
reinforce those of a similar recent nationwide
survey by the Delhi-based NGO Pratham that
Bihar’s students perform better than their
counterparts in more progressive states in the
country.
However, a pleasant surprise thrown up by the
‘Annual Status of Education Report 2005’ (ASER)
conducted by Pratham together with hundreds of
local NGOs, is that students in Bihar and
Chhattisgarh (states that have the worst
educational facilities) show higher learning
capabilities in reading and arithmetic compared
to children from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and
Gujarat which have higher enrollment rates and
better school infrastructure.
We have had good news about Bihari candidates
doing fairly well in Civil Services in
successive years. Of the 700 students who
qualified for IAS and IPS in the last 12 years,
25 per cent belonged to Bihar. In the 1997
examination, Nalanda district alone could boast
14 entrants to the civil service. What more do
we need to be called bright and brilliant?
For example, Nigam Prakash was the first person
from Bihar to top the civil services
examinations way back in 1967. The other toppers
include Amir Subhani in 1987, Prasant Kumar in
1988, Anu Agrawal in 1989 and Alok Ranjan Jha in
2002. This is not all. In other exams like IIT,
JEE and CAT, Biharis are coming up with flying
colours.
“In 10 years, either the DM or the SP, if not
both, in each of the 500-odd districts in the
country will be a Bihari,” reports the Times of
India (May 14, 2005).
It is high time we singled out the problems to
provide a long-lasting solution rather than just
making fun of our own folly. I give a live
example. When you see two Afghanis, you must be
sure that both will help each other or the
affluent will support the penniless. When you
see two Bengalis, you must be sure that both
will have a ‘common intellectual understanding’.
When you see two Punjabis, you must be sure that
both will hug each other with a broad smile. But
when you see two Biharis together, you must be
sure that both will start fighting each other
after a while, as both look at each other with
sundry suspicious angles of caste, creed and
custom added and abetted with supreme ego. We
are happy with individual excellence rather than
collective bonhomie. And this is one of the
prime reasons of our destitute in plenty.
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Comments: |
If I am correct, there was one more
IAS topper from Bihar – Mr. Sunil
Kumar Barnwal in 1997. - Nawin
Kumar, NYC - Sept. 1, 2006
A very heart warming and encouraging
stats. But I still wonder why is
poor in such a depressing shape when
Bihari youths are doing wonders for
themselves. India is rich, but
Indians are poor was the
oft-repeated cliché in Birtish raj.
Can we say today that Biharis are
smart, but Bihar is not so ? Just a
thought. - Ravindra Kumar - Sept.
1, 2006
Bihar is a team, and a team can only
win if there is a team sprit.
However talented every individual of
a team may be, it cannot achieve
victory, until and unless they play
with the team sprit. Consider the
recent example of cricket, where
Australia played against the rest of
the world (consisting of 11 best
known players, from countries other
than Australia). And with no
surprise, Australia "brutally"
defeated the giant eleven. And in
every analysis, it was said it was
the team sprit, which made Australia
win the match.
And just look inside the team
"Bihar" and the reason for poor
performance would be self-evident.
We have the worst form of caste
divisions and violence based on it.
We have worst form of electoral
politics based on caste. Those who
talk of social upliftment and public
work are ridiculed. The number of
SHGs and NGO's working are
inadequately low. It's really no
wonder why Bihar has not performed,
in spite of possessing huge chunk of
our country's talent. - Ajeet
Kumar, Scientist, RRCAT, Indore -
Sept. 5, 2006
Biharis status is just like status
of our Indian Cricket team. Both are
brilliant and superior on facts and
records but as whole both are
losers. And the root causes are also
same for that like internal politics
and lots of differences among
themselves. - Manoj Kumar,
Kolkata - Sept. 5, 2006 |
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