Discussed Agenda Points on New School Education Policy in Telangana

Rc 655 Dt 25.04.2016 Directorate of School Education Short discussion on Education System in the state Assembly-Discussion on the items for the proposed Policy Formulation- Meeting to discuss for the proposed Policy Formulation on 27th April 2016 at Directorate of School Education Telangana State Hyderabad

Discussed Points in The Meeting:

Following are the issues circulated in the State Assembly in the form of short discussion note (enclosed) on Education System in the State.

1. Access and enrollment – Merging the schools with a focus to provide a Teacher to the class with Headmaster, improved infrastructure and school ambience.
2. Staring English Medium Schools at Primary Level
3. Attaching pre-primary sections/ Anganwadis with the existing Primary Schools 
4. Improving the school monitoring and supervision
5. Teacher Education – Strengthening of Teacher Education Institutions
6. Upper sections to be merged with nearby High Schools
7. Merging the High Schools with low enrollment 
8. Quality – Framework for Teacher performance appraisals and accountability linked to incentives such as promotions, transfers etc.
9. Biometric systems and CC cameras
10. Reforms in Teacher recruitment procedures
11.  Direct recruitment to the posts of Headmasters and Mandal Education Officers (MEOs)
12. Certificate course for promotion of Headmasters in School Leadership.
13. Teacher Unions
14.  Induction Training to the newly recruited Teachers
15. Participation of local community and local bodies in school matters.
16.  Making schools functional seriously for improving the public confidence on Government Schools.
17. Training programmes to the In-service teachers for the year 2016-17

I.            Further Reforms proposed for discussion: 

1. 1)  Upper Primary(UP) Sections to be Merged with nearby High Schools-At present the Schools are operating at three levels i.e. Primary Schools, Upper Primary Schools and High Schools.
2. In the case of UP sections, sufficient staff is not sanctioned. In the High Schools (VI to X) there is Teacher for every Subject. But, in Upper Primary sections, there is one Teacher for 2 Subjects i.e., one Teacher for both Maths and Science and one more Teacher for Social studies and English. A Teacher with Science qualifications cannot teach Mathematics effectively and vice versa. Therefore, it is proposed to have two types of Schools i.e. Primary and High Schools. There is a 3 KMs distance norm for UP sections and 5 Km norm for High Schools as per RTE Rules.  Thus, where ever a High School is available within 3 KMs, the UP   sections may be merged with the nearby High School.
3. 2)  Merging the High Schools with low Enrolment: There are 770 High Schools with less than 100 students, and have 8 Teachers and 1 Gazetted Headmaster per School. The norm for High School is 5 KMs distance. Therefore, the High Schools with less than 100 strength may be merged into nearby High Schools within 5 kms.
4.      3) Quality
5. a) Framework for Teacher Performance Appraisal and Accountability linked to incentives such as promotions, transfers etc. is required because the Learning Achievement Studies conducted by Pratham, an NGO i.e. Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) and by NCERT and SCERT, are constantly showing poor performance levels of the children in basic competencies of literacy and numeracy, in spite of adequate number of Teachers, having appropriate Teacher-Pupil Ratios, continuous In-Service Training Programmes etc.
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7. b)  To improve attendance of Teachers and Students, Biometric system in Schools can be tried, in a phased manner. To check any malpractices, Closed Circuit (CC) cameras can be installed in the Examination halls.
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9. c) Reforms in Teacher Recruitment procedures
10. At present, the Teacher recruitment in the State is for both Elementary and High Schools through a written test with multiple choice questions. Teachers need to be tested on several quality parameters i.e. motivation for teaching & learning, communication skills, emotional intelligence, quality of classroom teaching through demonstration. In order to test these qualities, it is necessary to conduct a descriptive written test followed by demonstration of classroom teaching. The TET (Teacher Eligibility Test) will serve the purpose of screening for eligibility to attend the Teacher Recruitment test.    
11. d) Direct recruitment to the posts of Headmasters and Mandal Educational Officer 
12. At present the Headmasters, MEOs are recruited on promotions based on seniority i.e., number of years of service put in.  Teachers at the age of 50 and above are becoming the Headmasters and MEOs. Therefore, as  in Karnataka, direct recruitment, for certain posts of Headmasters and Block Level Educational Officers  can be examined.
13. e) Certificate Course for promotion of Head Masters in School Leadership - In order to qualify for the post of Headmasters,  the existing system is based on seniority only. In the developed Countries, in order to get promoted as a Headmaster one must undergo Leadership Training to qualify. This aspect can be examined.
14. f) Rationalization of Teacher Unions
15. At present there are about 50 Teacher Unions in the State of Telangana with State, District and Mandal level cadres.  The public and parents complain that in the name of Teacher Unions, most of the Union Members are irregular or absent from the Schools and the regular administration also gets affected in the Department.  Therefore, a Policy is required to restrict  the number of  Teacher Unions to represent the Teachers / School matters.
16. g) Induction Training to the newly recruited Teachers-  It is proposed to give six (6) months Induction  Training to the newly recruited Teachers in the Teacher Education Institutions before they are commissioned as Teachers. 

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