SHILLONG: The Meghalaya SSA School Association has flagged the problem of untrained teachers in the state and blamed the government for the problem.
The association’s president, Aristotle Rymbai, said in a statement to the media that a CAG report shows 77 percent of primary teachers and 85 percent of upper primary teachers were untrained till March 2016.
“As per finding of the audit report there was no improvement in the position of untrained teachers both in the primary and the upper primary schools,” he added.
During the period covered in the audit, only 4,385 and 3,437 untrained teachers were trained during 2013-14 and 2014-15, respectively. According to the finding of the association, out of these 4,385 teachers, results of almost 30 percent were not rectified by the NIOS even two years after the examination.
“Also, 3,437 teachers are yet to start the second year class till date after a lapse of more than one and half year. Further, no teachers were trained during 2010-11 and 2012-13 and during 2015-16,”Aristotle quoted the CAG report.
The association’s statement comes days after educationists termed the situation as challenging.
At present, 26,941 in-service untrained teachers at elementary level are yet to complete DEl.Ed course for a period of 2017-19.
Rymbai said that a central directive says teachers should have the minimum qualification as per the NCTE norms and the RTE Act by March 31, 2019, for imparting quality education.
“But our question is whether the (state) education minister is aware of all these facts when he talks about quality education. What is the future of our state in the field of education if the problems of teachers are not being taken care of by the government,” he added.
Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui, while admitting that teachers in the state were facing problems, had said on Teachers’ Day that teachers in government schools should bring in quality in teaching for better results in the board examinations.
The association president said if the government wants quality education, it should first take care of its teachers.
The SSA teachers in Meghalaya have not been paid for months now and they had boycotted Teachers’ Day this year in protest against the government.
