The Government Resolution (GR), was reportedly issued by the school education department on Friday, March 15. The GR asks teachers to be cautious of what they wear as school-going children are impressionable and inappropriate clothes on teachers can have an adverse impact, the notification said.

The GR contains nine-point guidelines regarding dress-code for school teachers, it is applicable to all schools, irrespective of whether they are public or private run and affiliated to the board.

However, the newspaper reports that teachers and educationists, , have criticised the move while questioning the intent. A school teacher from Mumbai said, “Teachers are already conscious of dressing appropriately. Schools, too, are careful in ensuring the same in their own ways. There was absolutely no need for the state to interfere and declare a dress-code for teachers.” According to schools and teachers, it is their individual and local prerogative to decide what to wear.

Quick to respond, a senior official from the department however said, “These are guidelines and should not be considered as mandates. There is no decision yet on taking any action in case of non-compliance.”

Tr. For teachers

Just like “Dr” for doctors, “Adv” For lawyers, teachers will now write “Tr” as a prefix before their name. This decision by state’s school education department is aimed at boosting the morale of teachers by giving them recognition. The Commissionerate for school education is tasked with finalising a sign for the same, along with adequate publicity for it.

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The post Maharashtra Dress Code: No jeans & t-shirts for teachers, wear salwar or churidar says govt diktat appeared first on SabrangIndia.

When children lose their innocence

To adult warfare

About gods and their minions,

Apocalypse is here.

Then viper soul begins to peep

From out of Damien eye,

Teacher becomes predator,

And good  neighbour a spy.

“Development”  races  majestic

All the way to the moon,

While pride of   lucre’s forward march

Turns   citizen  into goon.

Thus are nations made supreme

By  an  Inquisitor  lord,

While  angels wring their helpless hands

To  their outdated god.

The post Apocalypse appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In a written reply, the Minister has provided that a total of 5,825 teaching posts and 15390 non-teaching posts were lying vacant in Central Universities as on April 1, 2023. According to Sarkar, the vacancies arise on account of retirement, resignation and an increase in the number of students taking admission to various central universities. He further provided in the answer that the “occurring of vacancies” and filling them off is a “continuous process.”

The complete answer can be read here:

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The post More than 5,000 teaching & 15,000 non-teaching posts kept vacant: Education Ministry appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The election promise of the state government was to provide jobs to 1 lakh unemployed youth of Assam but in reality the Assam government appears busy doing just the opposite.

The Assam State Primary Teachers’ Association (ASPTA) has reacted sharply and critically to the Assam government’s decision to unilaterally abolish the posts of 8,000 primary school teachers claiming that posts are lying vacant. On November 7, 2022, Dr Bijaya Choudhary, secretary to the government of Assam formally announced the decision taken by the Assam cabinet on May 26, 2020.

General Secretary of ASPTA, Ratul Goswami reacting sharply told the media , “Assam needs more teachers in the government sector, as around 3,000 government-run elementary schools still have one or two teachers. Why can’t the government absorb the contractual teachers into theregular (permanent) posts instead of abolishing the regular posts altogether?”

A recent survey conducted by the Assam State Primary Teachers Association (ASPTA) in March 2022 revealed shockingly, that there are 1,664 lower primary schools in the state that are running in a single room and altogether 3,716 schools are running with just a single teacher in the state. The survey covered 33,829 lower primary schools located in 51 sub divisions of all 32 districts of the state. Moreover, around 10,000 lower primary schools don’t have any electricity connection and thousands of schools in Assam dint have sanitization facilities, reveals the report.

After the announcement by the education secretary, the state education minister of Assam Ranoj Pegu also confirmed the decision and cited reasons that were vague and inspiring. He said that these posts were being abolished to “avoid duplicity and financial neutrality.” 

Govt of Assam had decided in 2020 to offer regular pay scale, along with all other benefits, including service upto 60 years, to 11206 LP/UP teachers working under SSA. 1/4 @himantabiswa

— Ranoj Pegu (@ranojpeguassam) November 8, 2022

Prominent Assamese intellectual and social scientist Dr. Hiren Gohain told Sabrangindia, “Our unemployed youth are hopping that they will find job. That means that theGoverment should increase posts. But it is unfortunate that, on the contrary, the government wants to weaken the education system. As a result of such decisions, common people will be greatly affected. This will weaken the institution of public education. Then people will be forced to go for private education, which is a perilous path as we know.”

This decision of the Assam government has evinced a reaction of indignation and criticism in Assamese circles. Tragically however, the political opposition in the state has not articulated any position on the issue nor launched any agitations or protests.

However the Students Federations of India (SFI) and DYFI have not only issued statements but have planned to launch agitations too. SFI’s representative, Sangita Das and DYFI Assam state secretary Ritu Ranjan Das have jointly released a press statement. The government has decided to hit at the future of educated youth of the state with this decision, the statement says while thousands of TET candidates have been hopeful for jobs in the teaching profession. The statement also alleges that the state government’s financial situation is in deep crisis due to overspending, and unplanned and unproductive sectors. This is what has led the BJP government in the state to abolish the permanent posts of teachers. The DYFI and SFI have announced that they will launch protests soon if the BJP-led Assam government does not cancel the anti-education and anti-employment decision. 

Both organisations have also appealed to TET candidates, teachers and conscious people to protest against the government’s stubborn decision.

Meanwhile, Abul Kalam Azad, Education Secratary of All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) told Sabrangindia, “Government has taken the decision to reduce the burden of loan (deficit). It is very sad that the government has destroyed the permanent posts for it. We at AAMSU strongly condemned it.”

 He also added that, “When most of the schools are running with single teacher at the same time this unilateral decision is not acceptable.” AAMSU has demanded a reconsideration of this decision.

Meanwhile, Brojogopal Sarkar, General Secretary of All BTR Bengali Youth Students’ Fedaration (ABBYSF) told Sabrangindia, “We strongly condemn this outrageousdecision. This is another step towards the privatisation of all sectors, this time by destroying governmental education system.”  He also commented that, “it will basically affected the rural poor people of Assam.” 

He continued, “it’s a clear conspiracy to destroy the Bengali, Bodo, Assamese and other vernacular medium of languages.”

The All Assam Students Union (AASU) claimed that the BJP government in Assam has sounded a death knell to vernacular medium institutions in the state.

Since teacher and youth organisations have come together to articulate an opposition and left organisations have also vocalised their protest, it is to be seen whether the Assam government yields to public condemnation and outrage.

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The post Broken promises: Assam govt’s decision to abolish 8,000 teaching posts widely condemned appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Tripura Police rained lathis and let out water cannons and tear gas shells upon teachers holding a dharna (sit-in protest), agitating against their termination by the government. A total of 10,323 teachers have been part of a sit-in protest for 52 days as their appointments were scrapped by Tripura High Court in 2014 due to irregularities in the recruitment process and lack of definite action from the government since March 2020.

The lathi charge and violent reaction to a peaceful sit-in was due to section 144 imposed in Agartala Municipal Corporation since early hours of January 27. At 5.30 AM, police personnel in combat gear were seen yanking protesters sleeping at the sit-in-demonstration venue, saying the area had to be vacated due to prohibitory orders, reported Indian Express. They reportedly detained over 300 teachers.

The order was upheld by the apex court in 2017 and after that, these teachers were recruited on an ad hoc basis which continued until March 2020 after which they were rendered jobless. The Chief Minister, Biplab Kumar Deb of BJP, assured to look into their problems within 2 months.

With definite action in place, three organisations of these sacked teachers — Justice for 10323, All Tripura Ad Hoc Teachers Association and Amra 10323 – came together to form a joint movement committee and announced an indefinite mass sit-in-demonstration.

Kamal Deb, an agitating teacher, told the Indian Express, “Protesting teachers were forcefully detained from the venue by state police and TSR jawans. They were taken to AD Nagar police grounds, many were taken to RK Nagar TSR battalion grounds. A lot of them complained of lack of sanitation and drinking water facilities on social media. Are we criminals? What’s the government afraid of?”

After the brute police action, several teachers reached the Chief Minister’s residence, and as the police tried to disperse them from there, water cannon and tear gas shells were fired, reportedly injuring 41 teachers.

“This is the most shameful and barbaric incident. Teachers’ clothes were torn by the police, food and other donations given to us at our protest venue were looted. The police acted like goons,” said Dalia Das, leader of the 10323 JMC body. CPIM leader, Bijan Dhar also condemned the police action and demanded the release of the detained teachers. State Congress vice-president Tapas Dey also denounced the police action and said that the BJP government had betrayed the teachers and are now acting out of political bankruptcy.

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A few days after Jadavpur University pro-VC, Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya, and a few senior teachers of the engineering and technology faculty, including three deans were allegedly ‘gheraoed’ by student leaders who were demanding restructuring the Jadavpur University Management System (JUMS), and the discussions on the issue yielded no results the vice-chancellor has threatened to quit. According to a report in The Telegraph, the JUMS is used to publish results online, and it has faced complaints of errors. The students have been protesting on the issue for a few weeks now, leading to the alleged gherao, alleged confinement of teachers, and then the lengthy discussions.

However, with no breakthrough, the Jadavpur University vice-chancellor Suranjan Das reportedly told the teachers on Wednesday night, that he will quit his post, The Telegraph  reported that this announcement followed yet another round of alleged confinement of the  teachers by students. The report quoted the VC saying:  “In such circumstances, myself and my two Pro-VCs feel that we should not continue to remain in the office.”

According to the VC, the pro-VC and others had agreed to an in-person meeting after the student leaders promised that they won’t resort to confinement, “but what followed was a complete breach of trust.” However Aritra Majumder, chairperson, engineering and technology students’ union, has maintained that “nobody has been confined” adding that the JU authorities were “not listening to our grievances.”

This friction between students and teachers had started when the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students’ Union (Fetsu) led agitations on December 9 and 11 over alleged anomalies in the management system, reported The Telegraph. Then on December 11, at a meeting of the JUMS Restructuring Committee, a section of students, “including, most unfortunately, some who were themselves members of the Committee, prevented other members of the Committee (teachers and officials), from leaving the meeting even after discussions had been concluded”, stated the news report, adding that the teachers were detained till 1.30am. In the news report dated December 16, it quoted teachers at Jadavpur University asking that they be allowed to return home,  “just as students have the right to agitate for their demands, teachers too have the right to return home after meetings,” said the teachers who alleged they were detained for hours “in this pandemic situation”. They warned that this, “can have severe, if not fatal, consequences”.

The Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association (Juta) has flagged the points in a letter to vice-chancellor Suranjan Das, stated the news report, days after teachers and officials were gheraoed by the students’ union of the engineering faculty over alleged lapses in the online Jadavpur University Management System (JUMS). The JUTA wrote that, “staying inside a confined space for nearly twelve hours in this pandemic situation can have severe, if not fatal, consequences, especially for those who suffer from various ailments, as many teachers and officials do.”

The VC had not commented on the issue then, however the students’ leader Aritra Majumder, had reportedly said that “Corona is not the sole crisis. We are of the view that demands regarding the results are of immediate concern to us…. Realising the importance of the demands being raised by the students, we would suggest the teachers rethink their stand.”

The JUTA, added the report had also issued a statement on November 25 where it blamed students for the resignation of two acting deans of science over the past couple of months, alleging “harassment and humiliation a section of teachers was subjected to by some students in the science faculty.”

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The government school teachers in Bengaluru have not received their salaries since the month of September despite several requests, reports Deccan Herald. The number of the teachers whose salaries have been delayed is easily over 40,000.

Office bearers of the Karnataka Primary School Teachers’ Association said, “Salaries of teachers for all 204 educational blocks have not been released.”

Teachers, who are burdened with home loans and other expenses are approaching authorities but to no avail.

Arun Shahapur, member of the Legislative Council said, “Many teachers approached me with the issue. When we checked with the department, officials said that the delay is due to the switching process from Khajane 1 to Khajane 2 system for disbursal of salary funds. Whatever is the technical issue, the department must release salaries for teachers on time.”

Shahapur added that the problem of salaries is common for teachers hired under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan schemes, but for the last few months, even the teachers hired directly by the department seem to be suffering. The government disburses salaries to regular teachers through the respective zilla and taluk panchayats, the teachers from the SSA get their dues from the SSA state project office.

Officials from the department of public instruction have said that the delay is due to the pending approval for release of salary funds. “The estimation of salaries sent from districts needs to get a vote on account three months before. Due to several technical issues, including wrong estimation sent from districts the process was delayed,”

As per the SSA scheme, the Human Resources Department provides Rs. 15,000 to per teacher, with the state having to pay the rest to bring it on par with other teachers. The funding changes every year depending on the progress of the scheme and new proposals.

Speaking to The Times of India, an office bearer said, “The Centre releases its share in three installment and it has been irregular. The state refuses to disburse the salary until it gets the Centre’s share. But, the teachers are the ones suffering.”

S R Umashankar, Prinicipal Secretary of the Primary and Secondary Education department said that the deputy directors would gather on Saturday to discuss the issue.

This isn’t the first time that teachers have been short-changed in the fight between the Centre and the State.

Earlier this month, the Meghalaya Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Association (MSSAA) threatened to agitate if the state government failed to release funds for their pending salaries for three months before November 18. In a letter to the Principal Secretary of the Education Department, the MSSAA President Aristotle Rymbai said that 5814 lower primary teachers and 6727 upper primary teachers working under the Samagra Shiksha were facing hardships because of the delayed in salary.

In Chandigarh, in the same month, 200 computer teachers, 87 counsellors and other contractual employees in 114 government schools protested saying they are still awaiting the salary for the month of October.

In July, the employees of Patna University too were dealt the same card. It is still unsure if they will get their salaries for the next six months. Sources say that the procedure of payment of salaries through treasury may take a long time because a mandatory bar-code of only 270 of the 1000 employees has been created in the past three months. 

The former member of Bihar’s Public Service Commission and the former head of the English Department PU, Shiv Jatan Thakur slammed the government’s decision to pay through treasury and not the university fund as established under the Section 45 of the Patna University Act, 1975.

In October, teachers of the Jai Narayan Vyas University in Jodhpur demonstrated outside the Vice Chancellor’s office because of the failure of the university to disburse salaries owing to the delay in the issuance of the block grant by the state government.

Earlier this year, the teacher associations in Bihar like the Bihar Rajyapatrit Shikshak Mahasangh, Bihar Rajya Prarambhik Shikshak Sangh and Parivartankari Prarambhik Shikshak Sangh, threated to vote NOTA in the then parliamentary elections over the delay in payment of salaries of over three lakh teachers.

Teachers in West Bengal threatened to cease work over the government’s decision to hike salaries according to the seventh central pay commission starting 2020 instead of 2019. Their fight for the hike has been going on since 2016, but has always fallen on deaf ears.

It is pathetic to see the apathy of the state and central government towards the teachers who are engaged in such a noble profession and depriving them of their right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.

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The post Only work, no pay: 40,000 teachers in K’taka not paid salaries since September appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: News Click

Signed by the JNUTA president Atul Sood and secretary Avinash Kumar, the statement read, “The General Body remains steadfastly arraigned against any attempt to impose CCS Rules on the teachers of the university, because they are antithetical to the very idea of a University and are thoroughly unsuited and inapplicable to activities that involve teaching and research.”

Protests in the University at proposed amendments to the Ordinance pertaining to the service conditions and tenure of JNU teachers also forced the JNU Vice-Chancellor to withdraw his plans to impose CCS Rules on October 22, 2018 and publicly declare through a press release on the same day that “no CCS Rules have been incorporated in JNU ordinances.”

Controversial CCS (Conduct) Rules 1964 (amended 2014) pg. 6-8

(1) No Government servant shall be a member of, or be otherwise associated with, any political party or any organisation which takes part in politics nor shall he take part in, subscribing in aid of, or assist in any other manner, any political movement or activity.

 (4) No Government servant shall canvass or otherwise interfere with, or use his influence in connection with or take part in an election to any legislature or local authority:

 (ii) resort to or in any way abet any form of strike or coercion or physical duress in connection with any matter pertaining to his service or the service of any other Government servant.  

 (1) No Government servant shall, except with the previous sanction of the Government, own wholly or in part, or conduct or participate in the editing or management of, any newspaper or other periodical publication or electronic media.

No Government servant shall, in any radio broadcast, telecast through any electronic media or in any document published in his own name or anonymously, pseudonymously or in the name of any other person or in any communication to the press or in any public utterance, make any statement of fact or opinion –

(i) Which has the effect of an adverse criticism of any current or recent policy or action of the Central Government or a State Government:

(ii) Which is capable of embarrassing the relations between the Central Government and the Government of any State; or

 (iii) Which is capable of embarrassing the relations between the Central Government and the Government of any foreign State;

Expressing apprehensions about the imposition of the controversial rules, the JNUTA said that imposition of CCS rules in one university will lead to “reverberations in all others and will have a severely adverse impact on higher education in the country through a number of clauses that are inimical to intellectual inquiry. Thus the “JNUTA General Body appeals to teachers associations, unions, civil society and all political parties across the country to stand in solidarity with the JNUTA and the Forty-Eight teachers who have been charge-sheeted.”

It further read, “The GBM would like to point out JNU is an autonomous body created through an Act of Parliament and teachers are not government servants as defined under CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964 or CCS (CCA) Rules. Conduct rules framed by the Government for those who have to discharge the specific function of government servants cannot be applied by a University on its teachers. Even CCS Rules are not applicable to all Government servants – for instance the All India Services are governed by other rules. More importantly, through the CCS (Conduct) Rules, government servants (and their family members) are constrained in the exercise of some of the democratic rights guaranteed to all other citizens of the country by the Constitution.The University is not an authority empowered to impose such restraints on anyone, especially the teachers whose specific function requires them to have the very freedom that are constrained by CCS (Conduct) rules. Any reasonable reading of the Code of Professional Ethics for teachers incorporated in the UGC 2018 Regulations and the CCS (Conduct) Rules would make it clear that the two are fundamentally incompatible with each other. The ‘silences’ in UGC Regulations or in the JNU Act and Statutes therefore do not constitute gaps that can be used as a pretext for invoking CCS rules.”

Condemning the imposition of the CCS (Conduct) Rules, the JNUTA statement read, “The JNU Administration’s premise that it has jurisdiction to declare all protests and difference of opinion itself as unlawful in JNU is itself illegal, infringes as it does on teachers’ rights Constitutional rights and the statutory framework of the University. Drawing confidence from these overarching guarantees, the teachers of JNU shall neither be intimidated nor silenced by the threats of the administration. Outlawing protest does not end protest, and only imbues it with another motivation, namely, the defense of the democratic right to protest.”

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The post Targeting 48 Teachers under CCS Rules anti-Constitutional: JNUTA appeared first on SabrangIndia.

(Anti-clockwise) Zeenat Khatoon, Kanchan Das, Uday Pandey who died and Shivlal Soren, who is missing

What’s the Para-teacher movement all about?
Between December 15 and 17, three Para-Teachers have died in Jharkhand. However, the state has witnessed a total of nine deaths (para-teacher) in last one month. The death list also includes two female para-teachers—Zeenat Khatoon (Ramgarh) and Priyanka Kumari (Chatra).
Significantly, since the lathi-charge incident, one para-teacher Shivlal Soren is also missing.

The para-teacher movement began a month back on November 15, Statehood Day in Ranchi. As the celebratory function was on, a large number of para-teachers had gathered at Morabadi Ground, demanding their jobs to be secured like their counterparts in Chhatisgarh had been. Jharkhand has over 70000 para-teachers (contractual). Their hope of getting a permanent job as assistant teachers were raised when six secretaries of Jharkhand Government had jointly approved it and left it upon Chief Minister Raghubar Das to take a call.

“To press our demand, thousands of para-teachers had planned to reach Ranchi from across the state, on the Foundation Day function on November 15. However, several para-teachers stopped mid-way by the police. And those that reached the ground faced the brutal lathi-charge at Morabadi Ground,” informed Narayan Mahto, a member of Para-Teachers’ Sangharsh Morcha to eNewsroom.

Next day, following the brutal assault, para-teachers went on an indefinite strike.

Para-Teachers stage-in at the residence of BJP’s Sindri MLA Phoolchand Mandal on Tuesday

Government silent over protest
According to Mahto, on November 15, 297 para-teachers were arrested, and thereafter deaths are continue. But even after a month, Raghubar Das government has refused to take note of the situation.

The other para-teachers who died are—Rajkumar Paswan (Hazaribad), Uday Shankar Pandey (Garhwa), Jagdev Yadav (Chatra) and Raghunath Hemburm (Bokaro).

What Para-Teachers want?
The mainstreaming, and hike in their salaries are main demand of the para-teachers. At present, an untrained para-teacher (primary) gets a salary of Rs 7800 only, while a trained one gets Rs 8200. In middle school, its Rs 8800 for a trained ones and for a TET qualified Science stream para-teachers it is Rs 9200.

The experience of teachers sadly enough doesn’t lead to much salary hike. For instance, Mahto itself, a para-teacher for 15 years now, earns a paltry sum.

“Most of us among the 70000 protesting teachers have over 10 years of experience. We have given our prime to the education department of Jharkhand. And sadly enough, till date, we don’t have a permanent job and in the name of salary, we get peanuts. In case, one of us dies, there is no provision that a kin get compensation job,” said Mahto.

Despite several MPs and MLAs from the government including BJP state President Laxman Giluwa publicly accepted that the demands of para-teachers are genuine, they couldn’t facilitate a mutual agreement between the state and the protesting teachers.

Opposition stands with Para-Teachers
Jharkhand’s opposition parties have supported the agitation of para-teachers.

Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Hemant Soren tweeted on December 17 that there is no morality left now in Raghubar Das government as even after deaths of three para-teachers, it is still sleeping.

CPI-ML has organized several protest march against government’s policy towards Para-Teacher, its leader Vinod Singh said, “All the trained para-teachers should immediately get permanent jobs as educators. As for the non-trained teachers, they should be given permanent position for non-teaching works.”

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which brought a drastic change in the education sector and especially in government schools of Delhi believes that Jharkhand’s BJP government has no intention of improving education, as it has no policy to improve the deteriorating education situation and respecting teachers. In fact it does not work like a welfare state.

“Raghubar Das government wants to hand over the education sector to the private sector. Several government schools across the state have been closed, even after the opposition of local MLAs and MP,” told Jai Shankar Choudhary, Jharkhand State Convener, AAP to eNewsroom.
Choudhary also cited how Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government had recently, made several teachers permanent and increased their salaries substantially. “In Delhi, teachers’ are being respected and not getting beaten or left to die,” said the AAP leader.

First published on https://enewsroom.in/

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In a recent audit report by Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) for the year ended March 2017, it revealed how Gujarat government under-utilized Rs. 3500 crore funds for implementation of Right to Education Act.
 
The CAG has also revealed that 12.80 to 15.11 per cent of children in the age group of 6-14 years were not enrolled in any school in the state during 2012-17. But the state government could only identify between 2.72 to 6.12 per cent of children as “out of school children” during the same five years.
 
CAG has expressed its dissatisfaction with the state in proper implementation of RTE Act, also known as the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009.
 
The report further stated that the monitoring mechanism of the state was weak as Block Resource Centre Coordinators or Cluster Coordinators had not conducted the prescribed number of inspections of schools.
 
The State Advisory Council met only twice against 16 meetings to be held between 2013 to 2017, the report added.
 
The CAG report has stated that 359 eligible children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups were denied admission during 2016-17 by the district authorities in Surendranagar district alone.
 
CAG has given a few recommendations to the Gujarat government regarding education, “The state government should conduct an annual survey to identify children in the age group of 6-14 years and enroll them in schools. The state government may ensure that the provisions of the RTE Act regarding admission under 25 per cent quota in all the unaided schools are adhered to in letter and spirit.”
 
“Government did not print and provide Braille books to visually impaired students during 2014-16. 63% of hearing and impaired students were provided with hearing aids during 2012-17. The targets allotted were much lower than the actual seats available for admission. State advisory council met only twice against 16 meetings to be held during 2013-17. Delay in reimbursement to schools. In two such districts, the authorities had not reimbursed Rs 91.28 lakh payable to 377 unaided schools. Recurring expenditure of Rs 1.28 crores unpaid for 4260 students,” were some of the startling revelations noted by DNA.
 
“On RTE Act’s clause for establishment of neighbourhood schools and transportation facility, the CAG report stated that the state government mapped schools in 2011-12 and found the requirement of 201 schools to meet the neighbourhood school norm. “Of these, only 25 schools have been established and made functional as of March 2017. As a result, the number of students identified to be provided transportation facilities due to non-availability of schools in the neighbourhood increased three times from 51,653 in 2012-13 to 1,41,854 students in 2016-17,” the report by Indian Express stated.
 
Further, during the audit, it was revealed that several primary and upper primary government schools were functioning without any teacher during 2012-17 as against the minimum requirement, it stated.
 
“On the other hand, in the “test-checked” districts, the audit found surplus teachers in 275 primary schools (349 teachers) and 924 upper primary schools (1105 teachers). “The state government could have utilised these surplus teachers in schools which did not have or which had less number of teachers. Thus, even after a lapse of more than seven years since implementation of the RTE Act the state government failed in ensuring maintenance of pupil- teacher ratio as mandated by the Act,” the report by IE pointed out.
 
The prescribed pupil-teacher ratio in Gujarat was not achieved in 1,156 out of 10,531 primary schools and 3,098 out of 22,234 upper primary schools as on March 2017. As per the pupil-teacher ratio prescribed under the RTE Act, there should be at least two teachers in a primary school and three teachers in upper primary schools.
 
Further, the audit found that the local authorities had not provided training to 90,789 (27 per cent) of the 3,41,157 out-of-school children during 2012-17. “Thus the objectives of the Act of increasing the competency level of out of school children for their mainstreaming in appropriate class remained unachieved,” the report stated.
 
It also observed that the State Advisory Council met only “twice” against 16 meetings to be held during 2013-17.
 

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