BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Thursday gave its approval to the road map prepared by the School and Mass Education department for implementation of Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH-E) project of NITI Aayog which aims at transforming elementary and secondary education across the State.SATH-E road map, a time-bound and goal-driven exercise that will reach its logical culmination by the end of 2020 academic year, refers to 15 action points for over-all reforms in the School and Mass Education department to ensure quality education at primary and secondary levels. The road map was approved at a high level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary AP Padhi here.
Highlighting major initiatives to be implemented, Principal Secretary, School and Mass Education department, Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said the State Government has already initiated rationalisation of teachers both at primary and secondary levels to fill up vacancies to streamline school education.
He said rationalisation of teachers will start after merger of schools as per pupil-teacher ratio (PTR). Primary, Upper Primary and High Schools situated in close proximity but running as separate entities will be merged into one entity with one headmaster. The objective is to ensure the teacher-pupil ratio at 1:10. In the first phase, the department has decided to merge 4,200 schools before next academic session, official sources said.
Mohapatra said recruitment of about 14,000 elementary teachers is over. The newly recruited teachers are expected to join in April, 2018. The remaining vacant posts will be filled up in the second phase. He said the State Government has decided to recruit teachers through competitive examinations to be conducted by the Odisha Staff Selection Commission.
Noting that the department is facing immense difficulties in handling court cases mostly relating to transfer and posting, Mohapatra said an Integrated Litigation Management System (iLMS) has been developed for efficiently managing education-related cases pending in various courts and tribunals. A standard transfer policy has been put in place and it has been decided that transfer of teachers will be made online from next year.
The meeting decided the modalities for strengthening the remediation programmes like Ujjwal, Utthan and Utkarsh under which the learning outcome of students will be assessed.While Ujjwal will focus on equipping students from Class I to V with basic skills in Odia, Mathematics and English, Utthan would focus on equipping the students of Class VI to VIII with grade level skills in these 3 subjects, said OPEPA Director Bhupindarsingh Punia.He said the modified Utkarsh would focus on improving the skill and knowledge base of the students of Class IX. Learning camps will be conducted on mission mode in all primary and upper primary classes from July 18 to 31, 2018. During the campaign, the whole day would be devoted towards remediation skills.
Rapid changes
Rationalisation of teachers will start after merger of schools as per pupil-teacher ratio
4,200
schools to be merged before next academic session
14,000
elementary teachers’ recruitment completed
Integrated Litigation Management System developed for managing education-related cases pending in courts and tribunals
Transfer of teachers to be made online from next year
Modalities for strengthening remediation programmes to assess the learning outcome of students decided