COIMBATORE: Teaching faculties from government colleges have urged the Tamil Nadu State Council of Educational Research and Training (TNSCERT) to ensure that proper honorariums and travel allowances are provided to B.Ed teacher trainees who will be deployed to the National Achievement Survey (NAS) to be held on December 4.
They pointed out that during the State Educational Achievement Survey (SLAS) conducted by the state government last year through the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), a full honorarium was not provided to the teacher trainees of B.Ed colleges.
An assistant professor from a government college of education who did not wish to be named told TNIE, “Officers of DIET told that they would give an honorarium of Rs 900 for one-day training of SLAS and two days work (exam supervisor in the hall) to teacher trainees and also said that they would give a travel allowance depending on the district. However, in a few districts, a full honorarium of Rs 900 was not provided to many students. Rather, they provided just Rs 600. Also, most students in many districts did not receive a travel allowance. Surveys showed that students spent their own money to reach the schools.”
He added that unlike SLAS, travel allowance, and honorarium should be paid in full in NAS as per norms.
A Block Resource Teacher Educator (BRTE) from Salem told TNIE, “A few teacher trainees appealed about not receiving a full honorarium while working for SLAS. When we asked about it, the officers of DIET did not respond. Though complaints were filed at the TNSCERT, measures were not taken.”
Source said, TNSCERT will assess 1.80 lakh students from Classes 3, 6, and 9 from across the state, and ahead of this, the process began to select B.Ed, undergraduate and postgraduate teacher trainees to involve them as filed investigators for surveying the sampled schools. When contacted, a top school education department official told TNIE that she would look into the matter.