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Schools resent piling ‘homework’ for them
In Short
- Teachers under increasing pressure to comply amid regular work
- Centralised evaluation of Classes I-X answer scripts
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Schools resent piling ‘homework’ for them
Hyderabad: A series of directives from the Telangana School Education Department (TGSED), though issued in line with the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 and the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) Management Information System, has put schools and teachers on tenterhooks, with teachers saying they are facing increasing work pressure and threat of being hauled up for dereliction of duty while managing their regular work and complying with these directives. In the latest directions of the TGSED, schools were asked to comply with the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, admit students, and not insist on any documents such as birth certificates, transfer certificates, etc. The department said that, first, this is to be communicated to the students, and then steps will be taken for the completion of the paperwork, if any, at a later date. However, school headmasters said that when a student enters the school for admission, particularly from another school, they must enter a Permanent Enrollment Number (PEN), which is a unique identification number assigned to students as part of the nationwide education MIS under UDISE+. It is meant to track a student's education across different schools and academic years. The PEN comprises state code, district code, block code and school code.
This student-specific identifying number is their unique identity in the UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education Plus) Management Information System.
Further, students who are not assigned by UDISE+ or are in unrecognised schools will not have a PEN. (It is a different matter that it will pose a challenge to students seeking transfer to another recognised school, take board exams, and avail of other benefits.)
Speaking to ‘The Hans India’, TG UTF leader Chava Ravi said that the RTE states that students below 14 years should not be denied admission on account of non-submission of documents. However, the problem is that the school from which a student is coming to take admission in a government school can be entered in UDISE+ only when the earlier school marks the student as having left. This is where the problem lies, he pointed out.
The HMs and schools might be held responsible and taken to task when students fail to submit the details after taking admission, they fear.
In another directive, the TSED proposed that, from now on, all answer scripts for Classes 1-9 be evaluated at the mandal centre. This departs from the practice whereby the evaluation is currently conducted at the respective schools. Now, the teachers point out that this centralised evaluation of answer scripts would put an additional burden on them. For, they are already burdened with admissions, bringing school dropouts back to school, maintaining records, preparing and submitting online reports, preparing for examinations, and more. The centralised evaluation initiative will add to their workload.
At a time when teachers are busy with the school’s academic work, the services related to TGSED’s fiats have been piling up, adding more tasks that ultimately take away precious time from their academic work, which is primary for them.
