Education in Delhi Schools: Rhetoric vs. Reality Delhi-School-Education-Rep-June-2018 | Page 5

DISTURBING INCIDENTS
All the following incidents are real and have been shared with me by Delhi
school students and parents. These are only some of the many incidents.
1. A student of 9th class was given an English test paper in a January 2018 exam.
As the student was never taught the English language, she could not complete the
paper.
One question in the paper was about writing a diary account of a planned excursion.
A couple of days after the exam, the student asked the English teacher to teach her
how to write that diary account. The teacher said she does not have time to teach.
When the student insisted, the teacher shouted angrily and silenced the student.
The student could never learn the English language that she was asked to write in
the exam. The student inferred that the school teacher herself did not know the
English subject that she is supposed to teach in the school.
2. Another student of class 8th asked her Math school teacher to solve a simple sum
involving only addition and subtraction. The student showed me the answer which
was wrong. In order to convince the student that her teacher was not teaching her
properly, I solved the sum for the student on the calculator of my digital tablet.
The student was shocked to learn that her teacher did not understand even the basic
arithmetic. When the student told about her perplexity to the teacher, the teacher
was embarrassed but refused to accept her mistake.
3. A student of 9th class asked her teacher why he is being taught Sanskrit language
while Sanskrit is not required in any contemporary job. The teacher failed to handle
this sudden query and said he has to follow government orders.
4. A commerce student of 11th class asked his teacher to teach him in English
language because it will never be useful to study commerce in Hindi. The teacher
said she will teach only in Hindi but if the student wants he can learn commerce in
English on his own.
The student was stunned to take this weird reply from his teacher. I could see the
signs of nervousness on his face when the student narrated this experience to me.
Education in Delhi Schools: Rhetoric vs. Reality. Research Report by Rakesh Raman. June 2018. Page 4 of 52