The Delhi government's education department is planning to issue show cause notices to teachers and principals/ heads of all the 'worst performing' schools on Monday
Amid hue and cry over the 'abysmally low' passing percentage of students — 31.5 per cent — in class X pre-board exams across government schools in the national capital, the Delhi government's education department is planning to issue show cause notices to teachers and principals/ heads of all the 'worst performing' schools on Monday.
The move followed the direction of education minister Manish Sisodia, who on Friday wrote to Education Director Saumya Gupta to initiate action against specific subject teachers in schools and their Head of Schools.
"All the schools that have less than 10% passing will be issued show-cause notices. This is to ensure strong push a month before the CBSE board exams begin," said Atishi Marlena, advisor to Sisodia.
Out of 1,34,200 students, who appeared in class X pre-board exams held in January second week, only 42,224 managed to pass. Among the worst performing schools are Government Boys Senior Secondary School (GBSSS) in Ambedkar Nagar, Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya (SKV) in Mundka and GBSSS in Nangloi phase-1, officials say.
The teachers/ principals have to give a written explanation within three days of receiving the notice. Otherwise, strict action will be taken against them. Officials at these schools, however, cited "shortage of teachers" and "flawed government policies" as the reason behind the poor result. "We did not have any permanent teacher for Mathematics and Science throughout the year. We got guest teacher for these subjects in December only. How can we expect students to perform well?" rued a principal, who wished to remain anonymous.
The teachers also raised questions over the government's weekly syllabus targets. "Teachers receive weekly targets for completing the syllabus from the Directorate of Education (DoE). There is immense pressure on them and it becomes even worse when there is an acute shortage of teachers. We can't expect them to give their 100 percent in such a scenario," said Ajay Veer Singh, General Secretary, Government Teachers' Association.
On January 13, DNA had reported on how acute shortage of teachers in Delhi's government schools had paralysed classes throughout the year. As per DoE data, of the sanctioned strength of 66,736 teachers, only 38,926, or 58.3 per cent, are filled at the moment. Out of which, 21,926 are regular and 17,000 are guest teachers.
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