Panel report unacceptable, says higher secondary teachers union

The Kerala Higher Secondary Teachers’ Union (KHSTU) has said that the report of the core committee tasked with framing special rules in line with the M.A. Khader committee recommendations on school education is not acceptable.

The report had cited differences between various school sections on the same campus as a hurdle to their functioning as a cohesive unit. However, the report cannot be accepted when the government claims to not have data on government and governmentaided schools where primary, high school, higher secondary, and vocational higher secondary (VHSE) sections function together on the same campus, the KHSTU said.

Union seeks data

Suggestions had been sought from teachers’ organisations on implementing the Khader committee recommendations. However, such a move was not enough. Hence, the union sought supporting data.

The report had said that the presence of more than one head of institution on the same campus was another problem, and so was the equitable distribution of physical and human resources among all students in such a scenario.

However, the government, in reply to a question by T.V. Ibrahim, MLA, in the Assembly recently had stated that it had not received any documented complaint in connection with sharing of resources among various school units functioning on the same campus.

Against this backdrop, how could it be argued that the disputes were hindering academic excellence and the report cite the disputes as reason for integration of school units, the KHSTU asked.

The union also pointed out that in reply to a question by P.K. Basheer, MLA, in the Assembly last month on the Khader committee implementation, the government had said that the current school sections would continue and come under the jurisdiction of the Directorate of General Education.