Bengal: ‘One class, one teacher’ policy likely from next academic year

Kolkata: West Bengal School Education Department is considering introducing “One Class, One Teacher” policy in the state-primary schools in the state from the next academic year, the state school education minister, Dipak Burman told media persons on Thursday.

“Under this policy, one teacher will be responsible for teaching all the subjects for the class he or she is assigned. There is also a thought that the annual increments of the teachers concerned will be linked to the progress of students of the class for which the teachers have been assigned the responsibility,” said the state school education minister.

He also explained his logic behind the thought of introducing “one class, one teacher” from the next academic year.

“After discussing the issues with academicians, we observed that if each of us has a fixed responsibility, then our dedication to that work also increases. The main aim of this new system is to strengthen the bond between students and teachers and improve the quality of education. When a teacher takes charge of a class for an entire year, he will get a clear idea of the weaknesses and strengths of the students, which will help in their overall development. Besides bringing changes in the teaching method, we also have plans to bring major changes in the evaluation process of teachers,” Burman added.

Speaking on the occasion, he also said that the state government had chalked out a strategy to improve the teacher-to-student ratio in the state in the primary and secondary sections.

According to him, the current teacher-to-student ratio in the primary section is 1: 26, and in the secondary section the same ratio is around 1:50.

“If 13,000 teachers are recruited at the primary level, the ratio can be improved to 1: 20 at that level. Similarly, we have plans to improve the ratio at the secondary level as well,” Burman said.

The proposal for “One class, One Teacher” had been welcomed by the All-Bengal Primary Teachers’ Association.

“It is necessary to give responsibility to one teacher for each class. If one teacher is given responsibility for multiple classes, it is difficult to ensure the overall progress of the students,” said the association’s general secretary, Dhrubsekhar Mondal.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

IANS

[email protected]