Morigaon DC Lashes Out at Headmasters for Poor Performance in Matriculation Exams

Morigaon District Commissioner Devashish Sharma expressed his embarrassment over the district’s poor performance in the recent matriculation exams. The district ranked third last among all of Assam. In response, the district administration held a special review meeting at the Pobitora Hand Theatre today, led by the commissioner and attended by headmasters of secondary schools.

During the meeting, the district commissioner began by asking each headmaster to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their respective schools. He then raised the pressing question of why the district’s matriculation results were so dismal. The exam results revealed several schools with a 0% pass rate, while others had only one or two students passing.

Upon being called by the District Commissioner, a headmistress from a school in Morigaon district attributed the decline in this year’s High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) results to a combination of academic and administrative challenges.

Speaking to the District Commissioner, she said, “Even though our teachers provided full support to the students, the results this year were not up to the mark. We had already anticipated that this year’s performance might not match last year’s.”

She further revealed that after the pre-matric examination, the school had identified several students as academically weak. The teachers contacted the parents of these students and suggested that, if possible, they allow their children to stay back a year and appear for the HSLC exam next year to help maintain the school’s overall result percentage.

“However, the parents were not in favour of this suggestion. They assured us that they would personally guide and support their children to improve their performance,” she said. Unfortunately, many of those students failed to score well, which negatively impacted the school’s overall ranking at the state level.

The headmistress also pointed to the recent changes in the education system as a contributing factor. She noted that students struggled with the new OMR-based examination format, which they were not adequately prepared for.

“We will ensure that all students are properly trained and informed about the new examination rules and formats in the future,” she added.

 Commissioner Sharma expressed his frustration, pointing out that private school teachers, despite modest salaries, were able to achieve better results, while government school teachers seemed to be falling short. He questioned the reasons behind the district's failure to improve exam outcomes and emphasized the importance of accountability. He also expressed dissatisfaction with teachers who were found to be more focused on personal gain rather than the educational progress of their students.

The commissioner issued a stern warning to the headmasters, holding them responsible for the poor results and directing them to address the issues immediately. He further stated that from now on, the headmasters would be directly accountable for the performance of their schools in future examinations.

With the district's abysmal performance, Commissioner Sharma has clearly stated that the responsibility lies with the headmasters, urging them to take corrective actions and avoid any further failures.