MONEY ADDICT OF SPECIAL TUTIONS: HEADMASTERS OF GOA TO OPPOSE NO FAIL RULE

PANJIM: Goa Headmasters Association (GHA) has said that they will ask schools not to adhere to Education Departments circular ‘not to detain students from just concluded academic year’ as there is no proper ‘criteria and modalities’ prescribed by the department.
The Goa Headmasters who themselves give hide and seek tutions to students by charging high amount of fees are the natural opposers of this scheme by the Govt. The headmasters along with their teachers are used to threaten students to fail them and force them to come to them for tutions to fill their pockets are the first ones to object to the new scheme which is currently run world wide.
GHA President Sanjiv Sawant said that the association has decided to stick to earlier guidelines, as prescribed by the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) and the directions are also issued to various schools. “The circular should have come prior to declaration of results not after closure of the academic year,” Sawant said adding that the department has also failed to explain the criteria, which could be implemented for promoting students, who failed during academic year 2010-11.
He said that the government will have to withdraw its earlier policy, based on which students have failed. “Just by quoting one section of Right to Education Act, 2009, the department cannot force the schools to promote all those who failed. There is need for some modalities,” he said.
Sawant said that in many cases, students, who had failed have already taken admission in new schools and are now in a dilemma whether the new school will admit them to a higher class as per the new circular or keep them in the class where they had sought admission.
A memorandum over the issue has also been forwarded to heads of Education Department including Chief Secretary and Secretary Education. Through their memorandum, the association has also urged State government to take some immediate steps towards implementation of the RTE Act, in totality.
The State Education Department vide a May 6 circular, had implemented Section 16 of RTE, directing all the schools in Goa not to hold back or expel a student till the completion of elementary education from I to VIII. The circular was made effective from academic year 2010-11.
“Let the department come out with proper criteria’s for promotion of these failed students,” Sawant said. He however, said that the association will go ahead with ‘no detention’ policy, from the forthcoming academic year, onwards.
“It’s part of RTE, so we cannot object. We feel that by and large, it will benefit students,” he said.
The Education Department’s sudden directions to promote all those students, who failed during last academic year, seems to be the result of intervention by Goa State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, who after receiving several complaints from sections of parents, approached State government demanding not to detain those students, who failed during academic year 2010-11.
The department which plans to implement RTE Act in a phased manner is also likely to implement Section 14, along with this new system. “No child shall be denied admission in a school for lack of proof of age,” Section 14 reads.

3 comments:

Shyam Sawant said...

Headmasters and the teachers are upset as they will not be able to blackmail the students into taking tuitions from them. Now they have decided to protest against this rule which is run in Europe and other western countries. Govt. should not listen to these lousy headmasters.

A to Z said...

I am fed up commenting on this governor as he is shameless. What a contrast between distinguished IAS officer and the governor.

Ignatius Fernandes said...

That's the place I remember as a child growing up in Goa. It was wild with caju trees and zambla growing wild. It also a place of serene beauty where the school children would go to revise for their forth coming exams. From the top of Monte dongor you could see far beyond to Colva and towards Raia, and there was no one living then I am talking about late 50's oh I do miss it so much.

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