THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Various higher secondary teachers’ unions will move the High Court on Monday against the state government’s decision to implement the Khader commission report and establishing the ‘Directorate of General Education’ in the state. The unions said that they will not allow the government to implement the report as it will affect the jobs of higher secondary teachers.
“We will challenge in the High court the recommendations of Khader commission report. Many of these recommendations are undemocratic and one-sided. This will ruin the school education system. The establishment of the Directorate of general education by making high school and higher secondary school level as a single unit is not practical”, Jayaprabhakar, a higher secondary teacher alleged.
The state government went ahead with unifying the schools under one administration even after the meetings with higher secondary teachers’ unions failed to arrive at a consensus. Though General Education Secretary A Shahjahan convened a meeting on May 20, the teachers’ union refused to accept the government’s suggestions. In the meeting held last week, Minister C Raveendranath had recommended appointing a single director for HS and HSS, one exam commissioner, unifying the offices at schools with the higher secondary section, retaining DEO, AEO offices, making headmasters of HSS schools vice-principals.
Meanwhile, the General Education Minister C Raveendranath told media that efforts are on to allay the fears of the teachers. “Apprehensions raised by the teachers are unnecessary. It is a landmark proposal to make the school education from Class I to Class XII a single unit. Similarly, the implementation won’t affect the jobs of teachers as the government will be always with the welfare of teachers and students,” Raveendranath said.
Government’s Proposal
As per the government’s proposal, the examinations till the higher secondary level will be undertaken by ‘Pareeksha Bhavan’ instead of the Higher Secondary Board of Examinations. At present, Pareeksha Bhavan is only looking after SSLC examinations.
Khader Commission
The Khader commission was appointed by the government earlier as the Central assistance would be available only if high school and higher secondary sections are unified under one authority. The system will subsume the pre-primary, lower primary, upper primary, high school and higher secondary levels as part of ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education.