Assam State Primary Teachers' Association: Include ‘Ka Shreni’ to Balance Pupil-Teacher Ratio

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Assam State Primary Teachers' Association (ASPTA) has been demanding the inclusion of 'Ka Shreni' under the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) so as to balance the now lopsided PTR.

ASPTA general secretary Ratul Chandra Goswami said, "Ka Shreni has been included in 19,000 lower primary schools since 1998. Our demand was to include Ka Shreni in LP schools since 1990. Though the government officially included Ka Shreni when Thaneswar Boro was the Education Minister, the department stopped short of recruiting teachers for this extra class. Though the students of Ka Shreni get textbooks, they are deprived of other facilities like school uniforms, midday meals, etc."

Goswami said, "The government's plan is to develop the carrying capacity in education by 2030. In this plan, the government aims at providing free and compulsory education from the age of three to 18. Despite that, the government continues to refrain from recruiting teachers exclusively for Ka Shreni. Strangely enough, the government continues to impart training to teachers under FLN on the ways to teach the pupils of Ka Shreni. However, while calculating the PTR, the government doesn't include the students of Ka Shreni in the process. If the government continues not to include the pupils of Ka Shreni in the process of determining the PTR, the ASPTA will resort not to obey the government's order on the PTR."

 Also Read: Assam: ASPTA favours regularization of contractual teachers in state (sentinelassam.com)

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