Centre’s proposal to overhaul school education system draws flak

Various associations of school teachers in the state have already registered protests against the recommendation.
Image used for representational purpose only
Image used for representational purpose only

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Union Government’s recommendation to conduct quarterly examinations for school teachers for evaluating their performance as part of improving the school education standards has drawn flak. Various associations of school teachers in the state have already registered protests against the recommendation. 

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the other day, gave a slew of recommendations in the Niti Ayog’s ‘Strategy for New India @ 75’ and one of his recommendations was a complete overhaul of the school education system by improving the standards of teachers and revising the curriculum.  

According to office bearers of Kerala School Teachers Association (KSTA), the recommendations will only lead to teachers losing their confidence.

“The periodical examinations to test the efficiency of teachers will only create differences among them. Also conducting the test is practically impossible. We will not allow this to be implemented in the state. We have many additional duties apart from teaching. If the quarterly examinations are implemented, there will be more pressure on teachers. Hence we will stage a protest to stop the Centre’s move,” said K C Harikrishnan, general secretary, KSTA.    

He also said the Union Government’s recommendation could be on the basis of the increase in the number of unqualified teachers in many schools in North India. “ In Kerala, the appointment of teachers are being made in a transparent manner and all are qualified too,” Harikrishnan added.     

The unaided school teachers and private school teachers have also echoed the opinion of KSTA and they said they can not handle more pressures and this will adversely affect the academic performance of the students. 

“The Union Minister said in the recommendation that this will improve the education standards. But as far as Kerala is concerned, the academic performance of students are moving in the right direction. 
“The teaching is also far better compared to other states. So there is no point in implementing the recommendation here,” said Sreekanth (name changed), a private school teacher. 

In the report, the Union Government has recommended that the spending on education should be increased to at least six per cent of GDP by 2022. Niti Ayog has addressed the key areas such as school education, higher education and vocational education. 

The report has also made recommendations to improve enrollment, learning outcome, employability, and reduce stress on school children. 

Meanwhile, A Shahjahan, General Education Secretary told Express that the state had not been intimated by the Centre on the recommendations so far. 

“We have not been told so far to implement the recommendations. Firstly, we will be consulted and will discuss the practical possibilities. After the discussion, we will decide whether to proceed or not with the Centre’s recommendations,” he said.

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