'No teachers in schools': West Bengal SUA flags violation of RTE Act, says 'burdened with non-academic work'

Demanding immediate action on the recruitment of school heads and subject teachers, the West Bengal-based Shikshanuragi United Association Balichak (SUA) has written to the education ministry regarding implementation of the Right to Education Act, 2009 in the state. It has also appealed for the protection of education, teachers and education workers, along with several other demands.

Terming the implementation of RTE Act, 2009 as ‘not effective’, the association said that teachers and teaching staff are unable to perform their duties properly due to the burden of non-academic responsibilities.

In an official letter to the education ministry, the SUA pointed out several ‘severe’ issues regarding lack of teachers, inadequate infrastructure, violation of teachers’ rights, and pending recruitment of TET-qualified candidates.

“There is a shortage of teachers in classes 1 to 5 and 6 to 8. In many schools, there are no head teachers, subject teachers, or para-teachers. Teachers are frequently engaged in non-academic work such as surveys, data collection, election duty, census work, distribution of textbooks, uniforms, mid-day meals, scholarships, etc. This reduces classroom teaching hours, which violates the RTE’s basic mandate,” the SUA said in the official letter.

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'Para-teachers denied equal dignity': SUA

It also stated that as per the TRE norms, schools must have clean drinking water, toilets, playgroups, libraries, laboratories, and facilities for co-curricular activities . However, several schools are lacking such facilities which should be mandatory.

Moreover, in other cases, teachers are being deprived of due respect, minimum facilities, and security of service, including denial to contractual and para teachers of their equal dignity, the statement added.

In addition, many Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) qualified candidates from 2009 have not yet been appointed to schools. “Candidates who worked as para-teachers and had teaching experience have been excluded,” it reads.

The association has made a list of demands to be addressed by the ministry. The requests in the demand list includes immediate joining of teachers, adequate infrastructure, equal dignity, job security, fairness in TET examinations, para-teachers recruitment, and monitoring of RTE implementation in every school.