KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
A Kashmir Civil Society group, KCSDS Saturday demanded “step-wise approach” in solving education mess in State.
“The members are very much disturbed by the turn events have taken with regard to the issue of Ret scheme. It condemns in no uncertain terms the brute force used by the Govt to quell the peaceful protest by the teachers. A simple order by the high court has been blown out of proportion and politicised to hurt the dignity and sentiments of every teacher. There can’t be any question of not obeying the court order that has been necessitated by the sorry state of affairs in the education system and triggered by a case of an Ret in the court,” A KCSDS statement said.
“Appropriately it directed the Education commissioner to look into the mess that the introduction of ReT scheme has created in the state by arbitrary appointments which has trivialised and vulgarised elementary education as the case in point has unravelled the rot beneath the surface besides revealing fake degrees and certificates .The schools have been turned into dumping grounds by the political parties so much so that they have not even looked into the certificates of the appointees at the time of appointment because due process of appointments has not been followed .The court asked the commissioner to constitute a committee to look into the hazards which must have been caused to the society as a result of Ret scheme. It also entrusted the responsibility of finding out the veracity of such degrees and certificates of the candidates who stand selected as ReTs and ask this class of teachers to sit in a screening test to ascertain whether they are skilled enough to teach the students. All such teachers who fail in the screening test should be terminated after being heard. However the govt through her arrogant style alienated the teachers by confusing them about the real issue,” the statement added.
The KCSDS members alleged that government instead of going step wise as directed by the court messed up the whole thing.
“First of all, it has to ascertain what damage has been done by ReT scheme in which without following any due process of screening or interviews, candidates were appointed in every nook and corner of the state which instead of serving the cause of compulsory elementary education, trivialised the sacred mission. A former minister in Jammu openly sold these posts @ Rs 200000 each!”
“Second step would to screen the certificates and degrees and come out with the findings. All those teachers who have committed the crime by obtaining fake certificates should face the consequences. They should be sacked as natural justice demands punishment for the cheaters as well as those who accepted these certificates in the first place.. Second step would be to screen other ReTs through an elementary test to find out where the teachers lag behind. And then devise a Refresher training programme of not less than six months ( in worst cases it could be one year)to train these teachers rigorously followed by an examination. The training programmes have to be made regular and sustainable,” they demanded
The statement further said, “That is not all. A lot needs to be done to stem the rot that has set in as a result of Ret. A slew of measures needs to be taken to make elementary education attractive and effective in terms of infrastructure, facilities and well-trained capable teachers.”
“There must be focus broadly on teaching communication skills, Maths, Science, languages, computer training, proficiency skills and child psychology- how to teach the kids keeping in view their emotions, aptitudes and backgrounds. Teachers in general need counselling sessions as to how to approach children and make them learn in an atmosphere free from violent methods of teaching and to make teaching –learning a bipolar process in which students become participants rather than mute recipients.”
