No more poll or other duties, AP teachers to fully focus on academics
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Amaravati: With the state government amending the educational rules prohibiting deployment of teachers for "non educational purposes", teachers in Andhra Pradesh will not be assigned poll or other duties outside academics anymore.
The Andhra Pradesh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2010 is amended to encorporate the new changes, which will keep teachers away from election duties, Census work and the like.
"Section 27 of the Right to Education Act, 2009, envisaged prohibition of deployment of teachers for non-educational purposes. In accordance with it, and also to further strengthen the RTE Act, we have made the necessary amendments," School Education Commissioner S Suresh Kumar said.
The changes were intended to let teachers focus on their core academic activities and improve the academic advancement of children.
The Commissioner pointed out that various teachers' unions had represented to government that services of teachers be utilised only for academic work to improve learning outcomes.
According to the Annual Survey of Education Report, only 22.4 per cent children in Class 3 could read the Class 2 text and only 38.4 per cent could do (mathematical) subtraction.
In Class 5, only 39.3 per cent students could divide a (mathematical) sum while the percentage in Class 8 was only 47.60.
"Teachers are required to focus on their core activity and dedicate their time solely to improve the learning outcomes. Only that will ensure academic transformation, for which the state government has been implementing various reformative schemes," Suresh Kumar observed.
Coupled with the reform initiatives, effective implementation of the RTE Act, 2009, was the key to usher in transformative changes and improved learning outcomes. Hence the prohibition of non-teaching activities by teachers, Suresh added.