Assam: Teachers oppose minister’s statement on fall in enrolment in primary schools

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The teachers opposed the Education Minister’s statement on the fall in enrolment in primary schools.

In this regard, the general secretary of the Assam State Primary Teachers’ Association, Ratul Chandra Goswami, said, “The teachers are busy with not only teaching but with various programmes and trainings implemented by the government. In a programme on Tuesday, the Education Minister revealed that the enrolment of students has fallen by 1,27,000 in the primary level in the state. The dropout rate at the primary level has also increased to 8.49 percent. Indirectly, the teaching community is being blamed for this, and the issue of evaluating teachers’ standards is being raised through the formation of SSSA (State School Standards Authority).”

Goswami further said, “The teachers’ exam is going on. It will continue. There is no need to object to it. But trying to blame the teachers for the fall in enrolment is a clever tactic of the hidden agenda of reducing public sector schools in the state. Since 2015-16, teachers have not been able to complete the syllabus in the class. Along with celebrations and training, teachers are being kept out of school for non-academic programmes. Being pre-occupied with various programmes, teachers are not able to take classes after summer vacation. The educational authorities are giving different orders. Even after handing over students to school management committees, teachers are being sent for training. The academic calendar has become meaningless.”

“On the other hand, there are not sufficient teachers in schools. Under the Right to Education Act, two teachers are given against 60 students, but the students of ‘Ka-shreni’ in the school are not counted. They are made to study by these two teachers, but the students are not counted in the PTR (Pupil Teacher Ratio). If schools are run in this absurd way, will students come to school?” questioned Goswami.

He further alleged, “Private education has started at the expense of the government fund in more than 2,000 government schools in the state. In other words, the government is encouraging students to go from government schools to private schools.”

 Also read: Assam special recruitment drive: Duplicity found in 62 teachers’ applications (sentinelassam.com)

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