Private tuitions by teachers under parents' panel lens

Teachers of Delhi government schools now are under observation to prevent them from conducting private tuitions for extra income.

The recently formed School Management Committees have been told by Education Minister Manish Sisodia to ensure that government teachers devote efforts for improving the learning of students during school hours itself and avoid pushing students taking private tuitions from them.

Apart from monitoring the punctuality and regularity of teachers in school, the SMCs have been told to report instances of teachers engaging in “private tuitions or private teaching activity”.

Any form of mental and physical harassment of students by teachers would also be spotted and reported by the SMC, said an official. 

The Kejriwal government earlier allowed parents of students studying in a particular school to contest elections for managing committees of that institution.

At least 12 parents have been elected to each school’s managing committee which is headed by the principal of the institution. The area legislator, a teacher representing the school’s teachers and an educationist are the committee members.

Right to education
The concept of involving parents to monitor schools’ functioning is not a brainchild of the AAP government. The provision has existed in the Right to Education law since 2009 but it is for the first time that the city government has decided to implement the provision.

According to a senior official of the education department, one of the key roles given to the SMCs is to identify students requiring special training and organise such training.
“The special training to be given to students would be based on age-appropriate learning material approved by the SCERT,” he said.

The training would be for at least three months and at the most for two months.
It will be offered either by teachers working in the school or those specially deputed for the task. There is also a provision for allowing these training sessions in “safe residential facilities”, in addition to the school premises.

As per the government’s plan, the parents in the management committee would  also help execute the plan

to install CCTV cameras in classrooms and ensure implementation of the midday meal scheme, said an aide of Sisodia.