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HT Readers’ take | Chandigarh needs lessons in lessening teachers’ workload
Tricity residents feel that stressed, overburdened teachers cannot ensure quality education. As teachers carry the responsibility of shaping the future of the country, it is imperative that they are provided all possible support, good working conditions and time to build upon their skills so that they can impart value education to students
Teaching not just another job
It’s high time the administration realises that teaching is not just another job and teachers are not your usual employees. Teachers are nation builders who come into the profession with a lot of passion. Expecting them to carry out administrative and clerical work is unfair and they should be limited to only teaching work. Further, the teacher-student ratio should be 35:1. Teachers should be given more autonomy and free to use the teaching aides of their choice. Besides, weekend yoga and meditation classes will help teachers reset and relax.
Ranjana Sharma, via email
Summer vacations for teachers ‘a myth’
Citing summer and winter vacations, teachers are given only eight earned leaves throughout the year. But in reality, teachers cannot enjoy any of these vacations as they are given multiple tasks during these vacations. The audit of scholarships, filling scholarships online and DBT work is done during summer vacations.
Riya Arya, via email
Contractual teachers can’t ensure quality of education
Teachers play a crucial role in shaping the lives of children. They not only help a child learn but also influence their social and emotional development. In India, the student-teacher ratio is very low, resulting in high level of stress which adversely affects the quality education. But hiring contractual teachers for temporary basis is not a solution as it promotes inequality and lowers the quality of education. Also, factors such as pay, tenure, status and work conditions of teachers affect their committed to the job.
Partha Banerjee, Panchkula
Quality education not feasible with overworked teachers
It is heartening to note that Chandigarh has topped the Union Territories in the National Achievement Survey. But at the same time, the fact that teachers in the city feel overworked and stressed is cause of worry. Some of them have to take five to six classes a day, apart from carrying out administrative tasks such as organising mid-day meals etc. For teachers to fulfill their role as nation builders, they need to be qualified, motivated and committed and have ample time to read, research, write and stay updated with the latest developments. Contractual teachers can help ease the workload of the teachers.
Premila Verma, Chandigarh
Appoint clerks for documentation work
Teachers should spend more time in the teaching-learning process and for documentation work, the schools should appoint clerk and other staff. If the foundation of primary education is strong, then students will perform better in higher classes. The schools should also adhere to the National Education Policy 2020, which states that the student-teacher ratio is 30:1.
Prerna Semwal, via email
Help teachers hone their skills
Government school teachers are not only burdened with the high strength of students but also with non-teaching responsibilities, such as carrying out population surveys, data entry, implementing mid-meal scheme and other scholarship programmes. Instead of making teachers carry out clerical jobs, the authorities would do well to help teachers hone their existing skills through workshops and seminars. This would ultimately benefit the students and ultimately the nation.
Ginni Bhardwaj, Chandigarh
Need teacher-centered reforms
Supporting and protecting the teacher workforce should be the primary focus of district authorities and policymakers. If we don’t make meaningful changes to lessen the strain on the profession and improve working conditions, we stand to lose our biggest asset: teachers. Moving forward, district leaders need to work toward reducing stress, improving teacher support structures, and building sustainable, attractive working conditions for our teachers. Where change can’t be forced locally, leaders need to call on our state and federal education agencies to solve the systemic issues that are perpetuating teacher stress and causing teacher turnover.
Manjinder Kaur, Chandigarh
Explore novel ways of teaching
One way to reduce the burden on teachers is by exploring the DRAS formula - divide responsibility among students. Students can be assigned some of the tasks, which can help them develop some leadership and life skills while also reducing the burden on teachers. At the end of each month, students may be assessed on the basis of the delivery of the job assigned.
Sanyam Agrawal, Chandigarh
Fill vacant posts on priority
We should congratulate and appreciate teachers of Chandigarh who helped students outperform their counterparts in other UTs. At the same time, the plight of overworked teachers should not be ignored. To lighten their load, vacant posts of teachers must be filled on priority. Retired teachers may be roped in and given an opportunity to serve further till their health permits. For a strong foundation more attention is required for quality of education in lower classes. Only a satisfied and relaxed teacher can impart better education to make ideal citizens.
Sqn Ldr Manjit Singh Johar retd, Chandigarh
Quality over quantity
The administration compels the heads of schools to admit more and more students without taking any steps to recruit more teachers or fill up vacant posts. One must understand that this won’t help uplift the quality of education. Further, assigning extra work such as election duties, census and other types of surveys only adds to the burden on the already drained teachers. Corrective measures should be taken before the teachers are compelled to take to the streets.
Sumesh Kumar Badhwar, Mohali
No dearth of qualified teachers
Forcing JBT teachers to teach Class 11 and 12 is unjustified. The government is playing with the future of students by not filling up the vacant posts of teachers. Until the permanent recruitment is made, retired teachers can be roped in as a stop-gap arrangement. A large chunk of experienced, educated and qualified teachers are free to render their services and administration would do well to use their services.
Abhilasha Gupta, Mohali
Call teachers on deputation from Punjab, Haryana
To ease the burden on UT teachers, the administration can bring in teachers on deputation from Punjab and Haryana. Contract appointments of eligible candidates should be made with clear stipulation that preference will be given to them while making regular appointments, if their work is found satisfactory. There are 116 government schools in Chandigarh, and to reduce workload on teachers, the education department has announced setting up of eight new schools. The department had also requested senior citizens to volunteer their services but the response has not been encouraging.
Kidar Nath Sharma, via email
End practice of assigning higher classes to JBTs
To ease the burden on teachers, without compromising the quality of education, the authorities must immediately hire contractual teachers.Regular updates should to be given to education department on vacant seats in any school so that the post could be filled without delay. The department should hire new staff before the retirement of current employees.With effective planning, the problem can be solved easily. All JBT teachers need to be given equal work and no higher classes should be assigned to them.
Prabhjot Nagpal, Zirakpur
Teachers deserve a better deal
The stellar performance by Chandigarh schools among UTs across the country in National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021, conducted by the Union Ministry of Education, has evoked mixed feelings. While we have every reason to rejoice over the achievement, the growing sense of exploitation among 38% teachers, especially those taking junior classes, is worrying. The situation in privately-run schools is even worse where hapless teachers are, under duress, subjected to walk the extra mile, or face marching orders. The department of education needs to pitch in to ease out the burden without compromising on the quality of education.
Ramesh K Dhiman, Chandigarh
More involvement of students may help
It is heartening to know that Chandigarh schools outperformed all UTs in the National Achievement Survey (NAS), 2021. The credit should go to all the teachers in the city. Not only the junior teachers but the senior teachers are also overburdened with their work. There should be a change in the delivery mechanism of teaching where more student involvement should be there. Activities such as role plays, games, extempore sessions etc. should be given more focus. This will reduce the burden on teachers to a large extent as more involvement of students will be there. The syllabus and load of books should also be reduced. Rote learning, homework etc should be replaced by more innovative and creative learning.
Anil Kumar Yadav, Chandigarh
Reducing syllabus will help ease stress, improve learning
As per NAS-2021 Chandigarh schools outperformed all UTs in India in spite of shortage staff and over burdened teacher, particularly those from junior classes. Hence, all vacant teaching posts may be filled urgently. In addition, persuade retired persons to teach junior classes on honorary basis. For quality education, syllabus up to primary classes (1to 5) may be reduced to the extent that not more than 4-5 subjects, one book for each subject, should be taught. There should be no books for pre-nursery & nursery classes but only oral edu.
Subhash Chugh, via email
Don’t compromise teachers’ health
It is great to hear that Chandigarh schools performed well in NAS Survey 2021 but at the same time found that teachers are overworked which is not a good sign for their health. Need of the hour is to employ and outsource qualified teachers as per needs of the school. This will not only reduce unemployment of teachers but will also improve the standard of education level in schools. Lastly, part-time teachers should be paid well keeping in view their qualification and past experience.
Col TBS Bedi, (retd), Mohali
Quality of education needs improvement
School education in Chandigarh needs further improvement. Though scores in most subjects in Chandigarh schools were lower in the survey, yet the overall performance of Chandigarh schools has been rated as best among the Union Territories. Chandigarh serves as an example of a Union Territory where the schooling system is working with a fair amount of efficiency. But over the years, the quality of contractual staff has gone down and teachers are often given multiple responsibilities including census and election duties which need to be avoided. In-service training is the basic requirement to keep teachers up-to-date. However efficient the staff may be, there is always a need for supervision to check their activities.
SK Khosla, Chandigarh
Retired persons from various fields can inspire students
The administration should not just hire contractual staff to mitigate the burden on existing staff but also look at roping in the services of volunteers and retired persons from various fields. They will not just teach students the curriculum but also add to the students’ outlook through their vast experience. This will help produce bright citizens for the future.
Avinash Goyal, Chandigarh
Better pay, job security for contractual teachers
The shortage of teachers is an educational crisis that impedes learning and affects students deeply, especially in the periphery areas of UT where there is huge shortage of qualified teachers. There are a large number of underpaid and under-skilled contractual teachers with less salary, fewer benefits and no job security. Increasing teacher pay, improving professional development, and hiring new teachers would foster a better learning community. Reallocating surplus teachers to schools with adverse pupil-teacher ratio is of utmost significance. There should be emphasis on building transparent online systems for teacher transfers to make the process less vulnerable to external influence.
Komal Singh, Chandigarh
Work should be divided equally among teachers
It is a rainbow moment for Chandigarh- Best education but overworked teachers. To reduce the burden on them, a student management committee should be created with a few students in it who can plan and manage extra-curricular activities. Moreover, extra assignments should be shared by all teachers. The number of teachers in understaffed schools should be increased.
Saikrit Gulati, Chandigarh
Don’t undermine the nation-builders
Stress and overworking will affect the health of teachers and not leave them in the condition to tend to the impressionable minds, i.e students. Contractual employees must be hired without delay to ease the burden on students.Teachers should also be given opportunities to brush up their knowledge base and exempted from non-academic duties such as surveys. Tasks such as these undermine their role as nation-builders. Furthermore, to boost their morale, teachers should be rewarded for their initiatives from time to time.
Usha Verma, Chandigarh
READER OF THE WEEK
Non-academic tasks leave teachers drained
It is a well-known fact that teachers are overloaded with work. Some of the tasks assigned to them are not even academic. All this affects the quality of education. The new system of evaluating students through formative and summative assessments has increased the accountability of teachers. Learning models are powerful strategies for innovation in education and a way to work smarter, not harder, as a teacher.
Khushboo Singla, via email
WHAT EXPERTS SAY
Streamlining work
We are working on the mandate that a teacher should just teach. We are streamlining their routine tasks, such as submitting attendance, to ease their load.
Harsuhinder Pal Singh Brar, UT school education director
Timely recruitment
Every year a substantial number of teachers retire and vacancies exceed the manageable limit. The dept should carry out recruitment on regular basis. Also, in some schools there is over-deployment of teachers while in periphery schools, there is under-deployment. This should be addressed.
BL Sharma, former education secretary Chandigarh.
Student-teacher ratio
The student to teacher ratio has worsened over the years, especially in peripheral schools. The dept must ensure that students are equally distributed in government schools across city Teaching posts that have been lying vacant for many years must be filled up on priority.
Bahadur Singh, retired principal, GMSSS-Sector 56
Hire more teachers
The dept must hire teachers, even if on temporary basis. Many JBT teachers have to teach senior classes too. The burden to deliver good results and also do other things is too much. The admission season is the most taxing time for us.
Swarn Singh Kamboj, president, UT cadre educational employees’ union
Better planning
A well-planned time table with sufficient non-instructional slots to allow for marking, resource preparation and rest, coupled with a reasonable student-teacher ratio, would help ease the burden on teachers. Support staff can also be of help, without compromising the quality of education.
Sangeeta Sekhon, principal, Strawberry Fields High School, Sector 26
