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Ludhiana education department faces flak for snubbing teachers, delay in NCERT textbooks
A teacher from Kot Mangal Government High School, Ludhiana, who had raised the issue regarding delay in NCERT textbooks, was summoned by the officials on November 16; according to the teacher, a senior education officer called the school head and snubbed her over the same issue.
Additional deputy commissioner (ADC, general) Rahul Chaba and member of the Sikhya Sudhar Committee on Thursday grilled officials of the district education department for reprimanding teachers who voiced their concerns over students of some government school students not receiving their NCERT textbooks with just 17 days left for their board exams.
In the previous meeting held in October, ADC Chaba and members of the committee had pulled up officials of the district education department for not providing textbooks to all students enrolled with government schools in the district.
A teacher from Kot Mangal Government High School, who had raised the issue, was summoned by the officials on November 16. According to the teacher, a senior education officer called the school head and snubbed her over the same issue.
Jatinder Pal Singh Saluja, a member of the Sikhya Sudhar Committee, raised the issue in the meeting on Thursday, stating that if the education officials reprimand teachers for voicing the issues concerning the welfare of the students, the purpose of conducting monthly meetings will be defeated.
“Instead of providing books to the students, the senior officials in the education department chose to target the teacher, which is disappointing. What is the purpose of the meeting when they don’t want to sincerely work for the welfare of the students,” said Saluja.
In the last meeting, the issue related to chlorination of water for the students was also raised.
On the morning before the meeting on Thursday, officials from the education department called the head of Kot Mangal High school and insisted that she submit in writing that chlorination was carried out in the school, following the instructions from the education department.
“We refused to give it in writing, since no chlorination was carried out at the school. They asked us to submit the report, but why should we submit the fake report. They were trying to save their skin. I urge all the school heads to not make any fake report under pressure from the officials, as our job is to work for the welfare of the students,” said Sukhdarshan Singh, teacher at the school.
Commenting on the issue, ADC Rahul said, “I have directed the officials to act on the issues in a time-bound manner and keep the health department in the loop for chlorination of water in schools for the students. I appreciate the sincere and active efforts of the public representatives who highlight such serious issues for the welfare of the students”.
However, the education department on Thursday delivered the NCERT textbooks to the students of the government High School, Kot Mangal.
Meanwhile, a teacher of a government high school said that the education department didn’t provide books to all the schools, but only distributed textbooks to the schools where teachers voiced the issue to the higher authorities.
