Don’t keep teachers busy on non-educational programmes: Debabrata Saikia

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Leader of Opposition, Assam Legislative Assembly Debabrata Saikia, urged Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma not to include teachers in non-educational programmes.

In his letter, he says, “There are many reports that the teachers of government schools in Assam are being employed in non-educational activities. Primary education should be given to students with due importance as per the National Education Policy (NEP) and the Right to Education Act. Only if students can master primary education can they become successful citizens in the future and become human resources for the country.”

Further said, “For the last few days, instead of teaching students, the Government of Assam has been employing teachers in various non-teaching activities under various pretexts. Instead of 116 days of classes, only 64 days of classes were held in government schools. Teachers and students have to leave the classrooms and be busy implementing various programmes imposed by the school education department, where only government schools have to survive all the schemes like the Amrit Vriksha movement and the Amrit Kalash Yatra undertaken by the government.”

“The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) prepares an academic calendar every year that fixes the schedule of the holidays, celebration days, examinations, summer vacation, etc. According to the academic calendar, schools in the state have not held teaching or other activities in the past month. There are many schools in the country that are busy implementing last-minute programmes given by the school education department. Therefore, the teaching process has come to a complete halt. The situation has reached such a point that many conscious parents are now withdrawing their children from government schools and enrolling them in private schools due to the decline in teaching. Therefore, the number of students in government institutions is decreasing day by day.”

“As per a survey in 2018, teachers spent 19 per cent of their time on academic work, and the rest was spent on other activities. This is contrary to Section 27 of our Right to Education Act. There are many questions among the people about the use of teachers in government educational institutions for other purposes outside the classroom. If they have to employ government teachers for any work outside the classroom, arrangements should be made to employ private school teachers along with them,” Saikia added.

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