Kerala   

Independent body for teacher appointments mooted

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Education Act and rules (KEAR) Revision Committee headed by the former Chief Secretary C.P. Nair has recommended that the appointment of teachers and non-teaching staff in aided schools in Kerala be entrusted to an independent statutory agency that is accountable to the legislature.

The 473-page report was submitted to Education Minister M.A. Baby here on Monday. Mr. Nair later told mediapersons that managers of aided schools would have to recruit teachers/non–teaching staff from the rank-list prepared by the agency and would have to abide by reservation norms.

However, the recruitment need not be on the basis of the rank in the rank-list, he explained. The report recommends that each local body set up an Education Development Fund for the schools within its limits.

Education Councils should be set up at the district panchayat/municipality/corporation levels. Officials from local bodies, the Education Department, teachers and students, among others, will be members of this body that will evaluate the performance of the school, ensure development activities and prevent dropouts. Teaching and non-teaching staff in unaided schools should be given salary at government rates. For this, the fee structure in such schools should be revised periodically.

The working hours of schools shall be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for Classes XI and XII. There should be 200 teaching days in an academic year; the figure shall be 220 for Classes XI and XII. At the primary level, the teacher-student ratio should be 1:25. The ratio should be 1:30 and 1:40 respectively for the secondary and higher secondary classes. The minimum strength of a class in the primary level shall be 15 students.

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