BALANGIR/ BHAWANIPATNA: Unhappy with the quality of teaching in Government schools, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Das on Monday ordered blocking of salary of headmasters and teachers of two schools in Kalahandi and Balangir districts.
He has also suspended the headmaster of Government High School at Kantabanji in Balangir district and issued show-cause notice to 10 teachers after finding gross dereliction of duty.
The Minister who visited the school in the day found students roaming outside the classrooms during class hours while the teachers were busy chatting in a common room in the absence of headmaster. The Minister directed students to come back to the classrooms and asked them questions related to various subjects.
With students giving wrong answers, he accused the teachers of being negligent towards their education, While suspending the headmaster, he directed the DEO to block the day’s salary of the teachers.
Similarly, he made a surprise visit to Bimbadhar High School at Karlapada in Kalahandi district and interacted with students. As students were unable to answer basic questions related to their curriculum, the Minister directed to withhold the salary of two teachers and the school headmaster for this month.
Reviewing the functioning of schools in the district, Das assured that rationalisation of pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) will be strictly implemented before beginning of the new academic session this year. As per the Right To Education Act, the PTR at primary level should be 30:1 and at the upper primary level, it should be 35:1. The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) framework stipulates that the PTR at secondary level should be 30:1.
However, many Government-run schools in the district do not have sufficient teachers to maintain the PTR, which will be rectified, the Minister said.
Das also reviewed preparations for the matriculation examination which is scheduled to begin from February 19, the appointment of teachers who submitted fake or forged certificates to get the jobs, scholarships to students and early completion of school buildings and hostels under construction.
The Minister said action will be taken against every teacher who submitted fake education, disability and caste certificates to get the job.
On the matriculation examination, the Minister said the district will have 103 examination centres, 23 question paper banks. Of the 103 centres, 37 will be covered under CCTVs. “Since the question papers will be coded, there is little chance of leaking the papers,” he said.Das assured early completion of District Education Office (DEO) and Block Education Office in Bhawanipatna.