Karnataka   

Remedial teaching taking back seat? Ground truth

The remedial teaching programme introduced by the Education Department for slow learners seems to be a futile exercise as teachers are reluctant to work after regular school hours and the department is considering dropping of the programme.

Remedial teaching was introduced last year to help those who are poor in their studies. The coaching was to provided for two hours — one hour before and one hour after regular school hours.

Asking a few students to come to school an hour early and stay back after school hours will lead to inferiority complex among them, and have an adverse affect, according to the Karnataka State Primary School Teachers’ Association and the Karnataka State High School Teachers’ Association.

By the last hour, students would be waiting to go home, and asking a few of them to stay back would amount to discrimination. Also, they would be overburdened, some teachers said.

School hours had been fixed on the basis of research, and children would not be in a position to bear the burden beyond that, mentally or physically. Hence, any such coaching would be futile, the teachers said.

Moreover, teachers would be overburdened if asked to work for two hours more. The timings of bus services had been fixed on the basis of school and office timings, and if teachers worked till 6 p.m., many of them said, they would miss their bus.

Teachers in most of the places had not been given quarters or provided any transportation to reach their workplace. How can the Department expect us to work beyond 5 p.m.? the teachers asked.

The Education Department had asked teachers to prepare a document on the remedial teaching programme — how many students were being given coaching, in what subjects were they poor, and so on.

The teachers said that it was not possible to prepare such a document, and that the department’s programme was ill-conceived.

Members of the primary and high school teachers’ associations had opposed the scheme. Minister for Primary Education Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri, who was in Davangere a few days ago, hinted at dropping the programme or modifying it.

H.S. NARASIMHA KUMAR IN DAVANGERE

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