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| Teachers, children at risk as Education deptt all set to go for community classes in Srinagar | | | Jehangir Rashid
EARLY TIMES REPORT
SRINAGAR, Sept 13: The teachers of School Education department of the summer capital district of the union territory of Jammu & Kashmir are up against a huge challenge since they have been asked to hold community schools in their respective areas.
A group of teachers while sharing views with Early Times said that it is virtually impossible to hold community schools since there are not many community centers in the summer capital. They said in absence of community centers the classes have to be conducted in Masjids adding that too is not possible.
"Directions have been issued that classes should be conducted in community centers and parks. How safe it is to hold classes in open air when many experts say that Corona Virus is an air-borne virus. If classes are conducted in open air then both the students and teachers would be vulnerable," said the teachers.
The teachers posed a question to the administration as how many parents are willing to send their children to attend the classes in community centers and parks. They said that teachers are bound to face issues in their respective localities adding that situation may turn hostile in case the department goes ahead with its plan of conducting community classes in Srinagar.
"The health and safety of the students should be given top most priority and for same it is necessary that the department should defer the proposed conduct of community classes. If the government has made COVID-19 testing mandatory for employees of various departments why are they students and teachers put to high risk," said teachers.
The teachers also took potshots to the mechanism being adopted by the department for imparting Integrated Multidisciplinary Professional Advancement Course for Teachers (IMPACT). They said the training under the course is being imparted to the trained teachers and not untrained ones.
"The IMPACT programme is meant for untrained teachers of the department, but due to unknown reasons and contrary to guidelines highly qualified and trained teachers have been enlisted for this programme by the district and zonal authorities. The untrained teachers who need and deserve this training have been deprived of their right and besides precious economic resources are being wasted," said the teachers.
The teachers have requested the higher ups in the department to defer the training program and reschedule the program under the guidelines of National Council for Education Research & Training (NCERT) so that government money is not wasted and the teachers and students are not put to educational risk.
It would be in place to mention that the IMPACT training is related to holding of community classes. Under the first phase of the training programme the teachers would be imparted five day online training following which in the second phase the teachers have been directed to provide learning opportunities after persuading the parents by going to their homes, collecting the wards at the community centres or parks placing the lives of both at risk. |
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