BY: Haroon Rashid Bhat and Farooq Ahmad
For the last few years, the Department of School Education has taken several measures to revive school education to make it more student-centric. In this connection, the New Education Policy 2020 proved a guiding principle. Annual Enrollment and Transfer Drive are such initiatives taken by the department to ensure better schooling. The impact of such initiatives can yield the best results if the administrators take a few more positive steps like:
Provide Proper infrastructure: A good school infrastructure with good spaces makes it a good place for a child for overall development. The impact of educational spaces on the students set out to identify the empirical well-being of students in schools. It makes it interesting and gets the children motivated to come to school, this, in turn, improves the attendance and interest of students in learning. But, the prevailing situation in terms of the availability of infrastructure at the Primary and Middle levels is not satisfactory. There are schools which lack proper accommodation and proper seating arrangement, Teachers have no option but to attend two or more classes in a single room. Therefore, there is an urgent need for more investment in the development of infrastructure. Separate classrooms for each class.
Creation of Non-Teaching Posts for Primary and Middle Schools: The induction of pre-primary classes is a much-needed recommendation by NEP-2020, appreciated by all. Private and public schools have already run pre-primary classes. But without the support of non-teaching staff like female attendants /School mothers, government schools can’t run such classes. As we know these growing kids besides teaching and learning need special attention in terms of safety, health, and hygiene. If the government is serious about inducting such classes in government schools. Then, there is a need to provide each school with sufficient non-teaching staff so that these institutions will shoulder this new responsibility efficiently and effectively. Since the inception of various schemes launched by the education department from time to time like SSA, SAMAGRA, and Mid-Day Meal, the workload has been multiplied in school, especially at the Primary and Middle levels where there is no non-teaching staff/ clerical staff in place. Apart from teaching, the teacher who has been assigned the additional charge to look after the Mid-Day Meals is not able to do justice to his/her profession. His/ her prime assignment is to teach students but it has been seen that the vital time especially the morning time goes unproductive because he/she has to procure food items daily from the market. There are numerous Primary/ Middle schools with insufficient teaching staff. In such schools, engaging a teacher for Mid-Day Meal work puts a heavy burden on other teachers to manage the classes which ultimately puts a negative impact on the academics of the students. Furthermore, calling I/ C teachers for frequent meetings, financial audits, and submitting related documents in the concerned office puts an extra burden on the concerned teacher. The department should either outsource the Mid-Day Meal scheme or allot a fixed amount in favor of the students or sanction a non-teaching staff/clerical staff in favor of the school so that the academic side will go smoothly.
Proper Waste Management System: Proper Waste Management should be in place to provide hygienic efficient and economical solid waste, collection, transportation, and treatment or disposal of waste without polluting the atmosphere, or soil. Or water system. In this connection, the concerned Municipalities, and Panchayat bodies can work in coordination with school authorities.
Creation of Master Grade Posts for Middle Schools: For the last few years, the status of many Primary and Middle schools was elevated from Primary to Middle, and from Middle to High under the SSA scheme. Teachers were promoted and deputed to those schools. They served in the capacity of Headmasters but without the proper sanctioned Master grade posts there. The result of that timely adjustment is that those Middle schools are without Headmasters/Master grade teachers so there is a need to create more Master grade posts from such schools so that schools will run smoothly.
Change of Nomenclature: there is a long pending demand of Master grade teachers to change the Nomenclature of this particular post. In this regard, many suggestions were submitted to the department from time to time but nothing has been done in this regard.
Establishment of District or Zonal Level Book Banks: Based on past experiences, it has been observed that students enrolled in government schools also suffered academically due to the delayed distribution of textbooks. This reflects the lack of coordination between the Board of School Education (BOSE) and the Department of Education. To address this issue, it is good to have district or Zonal-level book banks so that a student can get textbooks in time.
Avoiding Deputation of Teachers for Other Assignments: Engaging a teacher in conducting educations surveys is part of his/her duty but engaging them for other assignments like BLOs, Election Duties, Census duties, and other health or social surveys are distracting their attention from the actual assignment that is “Teaching-learning Process” There is a need to minimize the burden of a teacher so that he/she can fully concentrate on his prime job, and give the best as per his/her capacity and knowledge. There are schools where two or three teachers are running the school. Now, let us imagine how a single teacher can manage all the school affairs single handily when his/her colleague is deputed for some other duties. Another grave concern is related to the safety of the students, as we know a good number of schools are situated on main roads which are vulnerable, any eventuality can happen there if the teacher will not present there because the teacher has to do multiple tasks at one time taking care of academics, arranging MDM, Office work, etc.
Sanction the Posts against the Zone/District: To avoid overlapping the number of available posts in any particular school. It is better to sanction the posts against the already established educational zone not against any particular school. Similarly, Master grade teacher posts should be sanctioned against the District not against any particular School. There are Middle schools in every district that were upgraded under SSA Scheme but most of those schools are without Headmasters/Master grade teachers so there is a need to create more Master grade posts from such schools.
Bring all Teachers under the Ambit of the Transfer Policy: For the smooth functioning of the schools, it will be a favorable step if all the teachers including ERETs, and grades 2nd and grade-2 nd, and 3 rd be taken under the ambit of the transfer policy. This initiative will solve the problem of the Disproportionate Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) which has become the most challenging problem in the school education department right now. While making the transfers, distance should be given due consideration. If we the social and physiological implications of a longer stay at any particular place, it is no longer in the interest of or individual or any department. The teacher community never remains under the impression that they are being harassed in the name of transfer policy. Instead, they should take it as a new opportunity and enjoy it wholeheartedly. After all, the psychologically sound and favorable environment of teachers is also pre-requite for a better teaching-learning process.
Timely Promotions: All the stakeholders have unanimously agreed that the department has amply qualified human resources but unfortunately this vital resource has not been properly utilized as per the time and need. There is a dearth of subjects and subject teachers in various Higher Secondaries. Students suffer a lot in terms of the non-availability of subjects and subject teachers. Timely promotion to teachers and Masters can solve this problem to a great extent. The department should take this process in a time-bound manner. Any scheme or policy document can be amended in the larger interest of the public or social service. The teacher community supports every move initiated by the department to bring positive changes in the system. Let us hope for the best.
The authors Haroon Rashid Bhat and Farooq Ahmad are Educators by Profession. They can be reached at minamharoon123@gmail.com
