THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has increased the monthly honorarium for the teachers (Vidya volunteers) of multi-grade learning centres (MGLC) or single-teacher schools from Rs 17,325 to Rs 18,500. The General Education Department has issued an order in this regard on Friday. MGLCs are schools which have only one teacher due to the low strength of students.
These schools are mostly located in remote areas, including tribal regions. It was a long-standing demand that the monthly honorarium for teachers be hiked. At present, there are 250 MGLCs in the state and over 10,000 students are depending on it.
The decision to increase the honorarium was taken following the fund allotment made in the state budget 2019-2020. Though the previous government decided to end the operations of MGLC in 2014, the government was told to continue as this programme is helpful to many students residing in remote places.
MGLCs were set up in 1997 to ensure universal primary education under the District Primary Education Project (DPEP) across the state. After the enactment of the Right to Education Act in 2012, the state government had announced the conversion of MGLCs into primary schools. But this did not happen. The MGLCs were mainly concentrated in the districts of Palakkad, Malappuram, Thrissur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasaragod, Ernakulam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, and Thiruvanathapuram.
Multi-Grade Learning Centres
MGLCs are schools which have only one teacher due to the low strength of students. At present, there are 250 MGLCs in the state and over 10,000 students depending on them