BENGALURU: Karnataka Primary School Teachers’ Association has written to the state government against its decision of directing teachers to resume duty from June 5, at least 25 days before the government plans to commence the next academic year. This comes following government orders to schools to resume administrative responsibilities before collecting feedback from parents about reopening schools in July.
In a letter to the commissioner, department of public instruction K G Jagadeesh, the association on Thursday stated that asking teachers to resume their duty from June 5 was of little utility. V M Narayanaswamy, president of the teachers’ association, said that since most schools had been converted into quarantine centres, they had to be properly sanitised and this required time.
Also, it would be an improbable task for teachers to visit the sealed areas and conduct enrolment drives to get dropouts back to schools. Further, he said, visiting villages and convincing parents to send their wards to schools in addition to carrying out enrolment drives would be an uphill task.
Moreover, there were no transport facilities for teachers, especially in rural areas. Hence, the association urged the government to reconsider its decision. Narayaswamy said the government should provide an atmosphere conducive to teachers and let them get back to teaching directly when classes resume.
He said the government should, meanwhile, find a suitable mechanism to conduct interactive sessions between parents, teacher and school committee members on gathering the parents’ opinions over resuming classes.Parents too vehemently opposed the haste of the education department to restart the next academic year, and parents, speaking to TNIE also said that they were unwilling to send their wards to school.
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