BENGALURU: There were over 43 Physical Education (PE) teachers working at government schools in Davangere district, but now the Department of Public Instruction has identified 37 of them as excess teachers. This is resulting in ‘no teachers’ at some of the schools in the district and the scene is similar in some more districts as the department has allegedly identified the excess teachers unscientifically while initiating transfers of the PE teachers.
The transfer process of PE teachers is going on and the Karnataka State Physical Education Teachers Association demanded the department to hold back the process. Speaking about it, E Shrinivasa Gowda, president of the association said, “This is going to make a bad impact as there will not be enough teachers at some of the schools in most of the districts. Davangere is just an example and there are more such cases.”
In the ongoing teachers transfers, the department has identified excess PE teachers for the first time which is allegedly unscientific and resulting in no PE teachers at some of the schools in the state, demanding the department to revert to the earlier system and not initiate orders for those who have been transferred now.
There is already a shortage of PE teachers where, of the 10,000 sanctioned posts, only 6,000 are filled. And since 2007, the state government made PE mandatory at state schools for class 6 to 9, where both theory and practical should be taught. “Since 2007, the department supplies textbooks, but most schools have no teachers to teach them,” mentioned association members. However, the association has decided to meet the CM to submit their representation.