COIMBATORE: We all need people who will give us feedback.
That’s how we improve
- Bill Gates
The school education department could have been thinking on the lines of the American businessman when it sought a status report on the awareness videos on child rights and Pocso Act. But ironically, the videos which were sent two months ago to government schools across the state were never screened as they were in Hindi.
Sources said in July, the school education department sent video links of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights’s (NCPCR) Child Rights and Pocso Act and told the respective headmasters to screen them for students. Upon clicking the links, the headmasters found the videos were in Hindi and cancelled the screening. They had also requested the department to send them videos in Tamil. “But it was never sent,” they added. TNIE published a report on the issue on August 7.
Recently, the school education department sought a report to be sent to the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development. The Federation for Education Development-Tamil Nadu has condemned the school education department for the order.
Federation coordinator Su Moorthy told TNIE top officers of the school education department had just forwarded the NCPCR’s circular which attached YouTube links without checking the content. “Due to this, videos were not screened for students. After headmasters pointed out that the videos were in Hindi, educational officers said Tamil videos would be sent. However, they did not send videos in Tamil and awareness programmes could not be conducted,” he said.
“Now, officers of elementary education have asked to submit reports of the awareness programme. It indicates that the officers are working without knowing what is happening in their department,” he added.
K Sharmila, a postgraduate teacher in Coimbatore, told TNIE that officers should first send videos in Tamil and then ask for reports. She said though the state government runs an educational TV channel (Kalvi Channel) and SCERT, it did not make awareness videos on Child Rights and Pocso Act in Tamil.
Top officers from school education department were not available for comments.