Karnataka - Bidar   

Organisation formed to monitor students' level of education

Staff Correspondent

Evaluation programme to be taken up in 50,000 schools, says T.M. Vijay Bhaskar

Bidar: The State Government has established Karnataka State Quality Education Assurance Organisation to monitor the level of education, T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, Secretary, Department of Primary and Secondary Education, said in Bidar on Tuesday.

He was speaking to presspersons after reviewing the progress of various programmes taken up by the department in the zilla panchayat.

Mr. Bhaskar said a massive "Education level evaluation programme" will be taken up in over 50,000 schools in the State in January. The programme is the first of its kind in the country, he said. Cluster Resource Centres will hire unemployed B.Ed. and D.Ed. graduates on temporary basis to evaluate students. They will use paper-pencil tests to fix the learning level of each student. This will provide important inputs on what is lacking in students and how teachers can be better trained. The cost of the programme is estimated at Rs. 10 crores. "The Government will spend Rs. 35 per student and evaluate the education level of the three million children in primary schools in the State," he said.

According to Mr. Bhaskar, the Akshara Dasoha scheme had brought children back to schools. "In 2001, when we started the midday meal scheme, there were 10.53 lakh children out of school in the State. In 2005, the number of children out of school is 1.60 lakh. We are getting these figures validated by the University of Agriculture Sciences, Dharwad. Their interim report has supported our findings and the final report is yet to come," he said.

Block Education Officers will be asked to visit schools every day and monitor attendance of teachers and students. Each student should produce 75 per cent of attendance to be eligible to appear for examinations. This will be strictly implemented, he said.

"Petroleum companies will be asked to ensure that there is no scarcity of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders for the Akshara Dasoha programme in schools," he added.

Draft rules

The Government has come out with a set of draft rules to regulate private unaided education institutions. "We have already issued the draft rules and called for objections. We will soon implement them," he said.

The rules will enable the department to monitor the quality of education in private unaided schools.

"If the results are good, the Government will ensure that basic infrastructure is provided in schools, teachers and students are looked after well. If the schools fail to meet the quality standards, the Government will withdraw recognition given to them," he said.

"We have observed that many teachers in private unaided schools are working for salaries as low as Rs. 500 per month. Low salaries hamper teachers' efficiency. A significant increase in the teachers' salaries will mean better quality of education," he said.

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