Syllabus pressure: Counselling for teachers on cards

The move by the School Education Department comes against the backdrop of several complaints that many of the teachers handling Classes XI and XII were unable to complete portions in several subjectsin time.

A senior official from the Directorate of School Education told DT Next that though the government had provided in-service training for a week to graduate and post graduate teachers-with particular emphasis on the revised curriculum to improve transactional skills, the teaching staff at many government and government-aided higher secondary schools did not complete the required portions, especially for classes XI and XI, for the ongoing quarterly examinations.

At present, there are over 66,500 graduate teachers and more than 36,500 post graduate teachers handling classes at the higher secondary level in various government schools, the official said. “It was brought to the notice of the authorities that more than 70% of the government schools had not covered the portions in various subjects required for the quarterly examinations,” he said, adding, “If this trend continues, the results will be very poor in the board examinations and students will also be affected severely”.

Taking thus into consideration the difficulty faced by the teachers concerned, it has been decided to provide them counselling involving experts in order to know their stress levels, and measures will be taken accordingly to solve the issues well before the commencement of the half-yearly examinations, the official said.

Various issues such as adequate classroom facilities, student’s strength, lab usage, lack of support from the school management, handling slow learners and other problems will be taken into consideration during the counselling, the official said. “Feedback from the students will also be taken with regard to their issues, especially in the areas of learning,” the official added.