From Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi: Meghalaya faces a piquant situation over appointment of teachers and their training to meet the norms under the Right to Education Act and the Sarba Sikhya Aviyan, Education Minister Prof RC Laloo said on Wednesday.
Addressing the Central Advisory Board of Education here, Prof Laloo said that the teachers’ qualification norms adopted by NCTE will impede the effective implementation of the RTE in Meghalaya.
The minimum qualifying criteria notified by the State Government way back in 2004 for the 30,000 in-service elementary school teachers was Class-XII pass. But a majority of these teachers have not secured the minimum cut-off marks of 45% for admission into the Diploma in Elementary Education (D. El. Ed) course.
The CABE may impress upon the HRD Ministry to grant a one-time exemption from this criteria, he added.
Prof Laloo said that the State Government appreciates the strategy proposed to be adopted for improving teachers’ quality through training, career development and improvement of working environment etc. However, other equally important factors such as housing accommodation and medical should be given due weightage, he said.
Prof Laloo also did not agree with the guidelines about composition of the school managing committee. This is not compatible with the current socio-economic and cultural scenario of the State where the
Non-governmental organizations and religious bodies have played an important role in educational activities, he pointed out.
Last year the Meghalaya Assembly had passed a resolution to maintain status quo in respect of school managing committees’ composition and the same was forwarded to the Ministry, he informed.