THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Higher Secondary Teachers Union (KHSTU) will boycott the valuation of higher secondary examinations scheduled to be held in April as part of the protests against the state government’s move to accept the Khader committee report on unifying school education with the higher secondary section. According to KHSTU, the report is biased and it will create complexities in the existing structure of school education.
“The state government has not even convened a meeting with us to discuss the implementation of the Khader committee report. The implementation will also cause a sense of insecurity on the jobs of teachers in the higher secondary section,” said O Shoukathali, President, KHSTU said in a statement.
The union has also decided to reject the education calendar for the coming academic year as the government had prepared it without consulting with them.
The teachers had earlier come out openly against the implementation of the integrated scheme for school education covering pre-school to Class-XII from next academic year, fearing job loss. Education Minister C Raveendranath had earlier said the integrated scheme would be implemented in all the government and aided schools in the state from the next academic year. The scheme will be implemented as a Centrally-sponsored scheme by the department through a single implementation society.
The Centrally-sponsored scheme will subsume the pre-primary school level, lower primary, upper primary, high school and higher secondary level as part of ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education. The scheme also proposes the integration of high school and higher secondary as a single administration named ‘Secondary’.
The scheme envisages free and equitable secondary education with effective learning outcomes, irrespective of gender disparities, and vocational training for weaker sections, including persons with disabilities, by 2020.The scheme has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for the period from April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2020.