Teachers should not run to offices, officials should reach out to them: Edu minister

The meeting was called after the minister’s instructions for field inspection by all the officials across the state led to the detection of several irregularities and laxities during their maiden visit earlier this week.

PATNA: Addressing a high-level meeting of district education officers and district programme officers of the education department held in Patna on Sunday, state education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said that teachers should not be made to run around offices at the cost of teaching in classrooms for their genuine work; rather the officials should proactively reach out to them in schools across Bihar to address their issues on the spot and reduce the unnecessarily growing burden of court cases.

Bihar education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary chairs a review meeting with district education officials in Patna on Sunday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

The meeting was called after the minister’s instructions for field inspection by all the officials across the state led to the detection of several irregularities and laxities during their maiden visit earlier this week. “Actions were also taken on some officials who were found to be intentionally trying to harass teachers, while others have been warned against such practice. The officials on the spot disposed of teachers’ pending matters related to routine work of salary and pension,” the minister said.

Choudhary said that saddling teachers with an unnecessary load of cases and making them run around offices was not in the interest of education, as their place was in the classrooms to shape the future generation. “There are thousands of court cases, while the majority of them could be tackled at the level of officials, as they mostly relate to service cadre, promotions, salary, arrear, pension, retirement benefits, etc. I have directed officials to conduct regular school inspections so that the system’s efficiency could increase and the teachers were spared from the hassles of running around offices. The officials have to make themselves available to the teachers,” he said.

The minister said that the meeting of all the officials was called after a long time. “The government is running several schemes for the students which are being reviewed at the directorate level as well as district level. For reducing litigations, a drive will also be launched for on-spot disposal of cases. All the regional officials have been instructed to carry out field inspections in the remotest schools and also spend some time there, interacting with the teachers, parents as well as students. They should also sit in the classrooms to see the quality of teaching. If the teachers have any issues, they can address it on the spot,” Choudhary said.

He said that officials have also been asked to ensure better attendance in schools by encouraging teachers to keep tabs on truant students and try to identify the reason. “They should get in touch with the parents of students showing regular or frequent absenteeism. The involvement of parents can do a world of good to schools’ environment and they should be made to feel an integral part of the school education system,” the minister added.