Beed girl throws light on rampant mass copying before child rights commission

PUNE: Preeta Sanap, a graduate from Shirur Kasar village in Beed district, on Monday claimed that mass copying was common in most colleges in the rural areas of the state.
She alleged that teachers allowed students to copy and gave them permission to keep notebooks on desks during examinations. Dearth of teachers in classes bugged her, too.
Sanap made these shocking revelations during a public hearing conducted by the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights recently.
The members of the commission stated that mass copying seemed to be common in rural areas. They stressed there was an increasing demand from students to ensure an atmosphere free from copying but schools and colleges allegedly encouraged them to write the exam papers with the help of chits and notes.
The commission members admitted that Sanap’s case was not new. Such revelations were made in previous public hearings, too.
The chairperson of the commission, Pravin Ghuge, told TOI on Monday, “We have perceived during our tours in the rural parts of Maharashtra that lack of stress on quality education was common and mass copying was a big menace. The girl in Beed spoke at length courageously about the menace and what hurt her the most was the fact that she had a degree in hand but no knowledge.”
Sanap said students like her had no future because of the menace as they had no knowledge. She said she had the aspiration to study and find a job, get paid for work and live a life with dignity.
Non-government organization “Lek Ladaki Abhiyan” organized the hearing for adolescent girls to present their issues before the commission. Sanap, one of the girls present in the hearing, expressed concern over the poor quality of education in her village and sought measures to improve the situation.
The founder of “Lek Ladki Abhiyan”, Varsha Deshpande, said, “The entire region around Beed, Parbhani and Jalna districts and other neighbouring places are plagued by mass copying. We run some vocational courses at our NGO for girls willing to learn some skills and start an income. But we have to teach them right from basic alphabets. These girls are in the age group of 11-18 but they simply cannot write.”
Deshpande said teachers should be held responsible and penalized if their students failed to perform. “On the one side, the government wants to shut down schools, while on the other hand, schools are being ruined by teachers and management though the students have the desire to learn,” said Deshpande.