Child rights body demand to follow RTE in spirit, raise concern over NAS results

Citing the National Achievement Survey 2017 results that has exposed the appalling standard of education in government schools, the Uttarakhand State Commission for Protection for Child Rights has written to chief secretary asking the government to strictly follow the guidelines issued under the Right to Education

Citing the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2017 results that has exposed the appalling standard of education in government schools, the Uttarakhand State Commission for Protection for Child Rights (SCPCR) has written to chief secretary asking the government to strictly follow the guidelines issued under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

The commission has recommended enforcing RTE in letter and spirit, no position of teachers shall be left vacant and strictly maintaining the teacher-student ratio. (HT File)

In his letter, sent Thursday, commission’s chairman Yogendra Khanduri has proposed measures to strengthen the quality of education in government schools.

The letter stated that as per NAS, only 50% students of class 8 passed in Mathematics —the worst performance being recorded in Uttarkashi where passing percentage was only 33%. Dehradun district recorded 40% and Haridwar 44% in the subject. The highest passing percentage was reported from Tehri with 49% students passing the exam.

The Commission raised concern over poor education system and has suggested 10 points to better the quality.

“When the government teachers are best paid then why is our education system poor in schools? It’s not because students from lower strata of society are enrolled in the schools, but the teachers aren’t able to work on them with complete dedication,” Khanduri said.

Alok Shekhar Tiwari, director general (DG) school education, however, assured of better results. “We are making all possible efforts to strengthen the education system in government schools. NCERT pattern is just the beginning in this accord,” he said.