Mangalore parents oppose separate section

MANGALORE: A new system introduced by the Department of Collegiate Education to shunt out slow learners to a separate section in order to boost pass percentage in government colleges, has ruffled the feathers of parents of slow learners.The system, already in place in Balmatta Government First Grade College (Girls) and to be implemented in Car Street Government First Grade College soon, aims to pay more attention to students poor in studies.Under this system, marks are the final yardstick and students are separated under categories as bright or slow.The Balmatta College has implemented this on an experimental basis for BCom classes.Here students with below 66 per cent PUC marks have been grouped together in sections for slow learners.But parents are upset with the system and are apprehensive about the consequences.A lecturer in the college reveals, on condition of anonymity, that parents fear that children will develop low self-esteem.Some parents also said the system was nothing but discrimination.When the academic year began, most students were unaware of the isolation, Express found out.A student from the college, Rihana, says her parents opposed her inclusion in a separate class as she would be subjected to humiliation.Her classmate Akanksha says the class of slow learners lacks competitive spirit and a good environment for learning.The challenge for lecturers is to achieve good results without good infrastructure.Another student said they would seek student unions’ help to end the discrimination.Car Street College has received oral directions from the joint director on isolating slow learners.The college is, however, delaying it fearing strong opposition from students, sources in college said, while citing previous incidents.When contacted, joint director, Directorate of Collegiate Education, Prof H R Nataraj Urs told Express that the objective behind the new project was to improve quality of education in government colleges.“Many students were not able to complete the threeyear course,” he said.Responding to charges of discrimination, he pointed out that there were no issues of violation of human rights in this system.