Nagpur updates:-State school education minister Varsha Gaikwad declared a home-policy job for teachers on Friday. The minister said the decision was taken after those groups ‘ members had petitioned the government for the same.
Earlier, the department of education had allowed schools to rotate workers on a capacity basis of 50 percent, which effectively means employees who work every alternate day.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said earlier in the day that the number of workers in government offices would be reduced from the previous 50 percent to 25 percent. Fortunately Gaikwad did one better for the students. “We’ve adopted teacher job from home,” Gaikwad said.
She explained that this is not applicable to anyone relevant to conducting board exams. “SSC exams will be conducted according to the standard schedule,” Gaikwad said.
Principals in Nagpur are now waiting for the order to arrive in writing so they can bring it into effect. “We know the decision has been made but we can not go ahead with it until the same is provided in writing from the department of education,” a principal said.
The other demand that the teachers had was that they should be permitted from home to do board evaluation work. Gaikwad said, “We’ve discussed this with officials from the state board, but they’re not in support of it. That’s because certain malpractices in these situations have been found in the past.
Anyway, we’re doing a shutdown for now and further decisions will be taken after March 31. “A teacher said earlier that there was a lot of confusion about why schools can’t be shut down when students don’t come.
“Kids aren’t coming and most of us aren’t board exams involved. But we still have to report to do regular work because the management of the school would prefer to have us around, “the teacher said.
Non-teaching staff at some schools are still coming on a regular basis and those working at CBSE institutes are saying they should also get the same support. “The issue with CBSE schools is that when the situation is serious, no-one takes responsibility. CBSE states that we are not interested until standard VIII and the government of the state says we are not affiliated with them. We’re trapped in no-man’s-land, “a member of the clerical staff said.
CBSE is unlikely to issue any job for its teachers from home circular unless the HRD ministry is guided to do so. For the ministry, the circular relating to statements made by Gaikwad is likely to be released by Friday night.
