Pune: Maharashtra state education commissioner Vishal Solanki speaks on issues facing the education system post the Covid outbreak, including resuming of classes, online and offline mode of teaching.
How are the schools and junior colleges at rural parts faring after it resumed classes?
Almost 15,000 schools have restarted which is around 60 per cent of total schools in the state which are imparting education to Class 9 to Class 12. Almost 8 lakh students have resumed offline classroom classes, which is around 15 per cent of student population covering Class 9 to Class 12. So, the progress is gradual, but we have to observe the local situation which is changing every day and the decision cannot be made at central or state levels. Hence, we have given the responsibility to local authorities like collectors, municipal commissioners and CEOs to take the call.
I would like to assure parents that their wards’ mental and health well-being is our top most priority. At the same time, we have to ensure that their academic progress is not hampered, especially in rural areas where we see prolonged break from schools and academics result in rise in dropout figure.
Till now almost 4 lakh teaching and non-teaching staff has been tested for Covid of which around 3,000 employees were tested positive. So, the exercise helped us to ensure a safe environment in schools and no case of infection of teacher or student has been reported yet.
{{/usCountry}}Till now almost 4 lakh teaching and non-teaching staff has been tested for Covid of which around 3,000 employees were tested positive. So, the exercise helped us to ensure a safe environment in schools and no case of infection of teacher or student has been reported yet.
{{/usCountry}}Your appeal to municipal corporations who have not yet allowed schools to reopen?
Though many municipal corporations have already restarted schools, some like Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad are yet to do so. My opinion is to review the Covid situation, but at the same time take steps to ensure that children from weak socio-economic background do not end up being dropouts because of gap in classes. As they won’t be able to compete with children who take digital classes, we have to be sympathetic towards them. We need to walk the extra mile to see how we can tap into possibilities of reopening schools. As schools have been closed for eight months, we need to take some calculated risks to bring back these children to classrooms.
Update on teacher recruitment process that will start soon.
We had advertised for 12,000 odd posts of which almost more than 6,000 posts have already been filled through a portal called “Pavitra Portal” which was launched as per the directions of the high court. With reports of corruptions and irregularities, the court sought a transparent process for recruitment. It is a merit-based online system and recruitments were done in last two years (before Covid). Ban on further recruitment in government posts was imposed be because of Covid situation. As many teachers are due to retire, we may face shortage in our schools and have put up the matter before the government. The state government allowed us to go ahead with the remaining recruitment of 6,000 posts from Class 1 to Class 12 across all managements, government and private. So, the process is on and, hopefully, in the next three months we would be able to recruit teachers, subject to various high court petitions.
Advice to parents who are reluctant to send their children to schools?
Our school management committees and education officers are regularly interacting with parents. In rural areas, resuming classes was not difficult as there is not much density and children are studying on farm lands. Reopening in cities is a problem because of population. We are trying our best to motivate them in a positive manner, but we cannot force them. So, we are taking steps to provide a risk-free environment on school campuses.
What will you appeal to students of the state?
I would like to tell students to make the most of this opportunity of being at homes as it is a rare occasion to remain indoors for such a long period. So, take care of your mental, social and physical well-being and emotional stability. Try to develop hobbies, help parents so that you learn dignity of labour and learn new things. I wish them a Happy New Year and hopefully the next year brings us good health and prosperous way ahead.