Hyderabad: In a ‘carrot and stick’ attempt to improvise the results of the students the district collector of Sangareddy Dr A Sharath came up with the idea of holding teachers wholly responsible for a pupil’s low grade on a subject.
The approach has made teachers unhappy and has received criticism from teachers who have been asked to submit an undertaking standing liable for the student’s results for low grades on the subject they teach.
In a review meeting with the principals of high schools and leaders of the teachers’ union, the district collector said that the teachers have to ensure 100 percent results. Though they had achieved 97 percent result last year, he said that he wants to see schools close the gap up to 100 percent.
Implementing the collector’s directives, District Educational Officer (DEO) Nampally Rajesh asked the Mandal Educational Officers to take letters of consent from the teachers. A few MEOs have already collected consent letters.
According to a report by The New Indian Express, the teachers union after this decision questioned how teachers are responsible for the student’s ill performance in his or her’s academics.
“If the school fails to provide books to the students over 6 months after the reopening of the school,” they stated urging the district collector to rethink the decision he made.
The union has submitted petitions to the DEO over the poor infrastructural growth of government schools in comparison to private schools. They stated that despite better infrastructure and facilities, private schools also fail to achieve 100 percent results.
Founder president of Telangana Panchayati Raj Teachers Union Harshavardhan Reddy, while demanding the withdrawal of the order, said that it is wrong on part of the collector to threaten action if results were not 100 percent without providing proper facilities, reported TNIE.
He said that several teachers’ posts have not yet been filled and books were not supplied for six months since the reopening of schools.
TNIE quoted the DEO over the teacher’s disappointment wherein he stated that the district achieved 97 percent results last year and teachers are expected to work harder to reach the 100 percent target. If any student is dull in studies, he or she should be identified and special classes should be organised for them.
The DEO stated that no objections were received over this strategy or consent letters at the meeting. The collector will have to take a final decision since the teachers’ unions are raising objections now.
The DEO stated that if the students fail in any of the subjects the concerned teacher who teaches the subject should be held liable. Alongside evening snacks provided to the students, educated persons in the village should be hired for two months on remuneration. “106 such persons have already been hired,” he said.
