HYDERABAD: Teachers are being made scapegoats for students’ performance with many alleging that the Social Welfare Society is threatening them with suspensions and increment cuts if all students in a class fail to secure more marks in the baseline test.
Teachers said that the board issued a circular in June 2021 stating that New Performance Appraisal Policy (NPAP) will be implemented this year. Under NPAP, teachers are awarded marks based on student’s performance and they need to score above 50 marks to not get ‘punished’. The NPAP was cleared in 2020, but the same was not implemented last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Why is NPAP limited to only Social Welfare Society? Orally, officials are saying NPAP will not be implemented this year, but a circular has been issued regarding its implementation. NPAP is being used to torture teachers,” said a teacher from Asifabad.
Teachers said students are being tested for their reading and writing skills through exams. “The students have been staying at home during the pandemic and most of them have even forgotten the basics. Within a month after reopening physical classes, how can they expect students to excel in exams. Why implement NPAP at this stage,” asked another teacher from a school in Nalgonda.
According to teachers, the exams are being conducted for students of class 5 till Intermediate in all subjects. It is mostly additional secretaries who are putting pressure on them, they said, adding they are not sure if higher-ups are aware of the issue. They further said that they were scared of losing their increments, and that some teachers have been lenient with invigilation, even helping students with answers.
The teachers added that the Society has already suspended two faculty members. A junior lecturer’s suspension letter said he was involved in ‘malpractice’ as all students secured 15-20 marks in an exam, but when a higher official conducted a re-exam they only secured 0-5 marks.
Members of Telangana State United Teachers Federation have even submitted a representation to the Society asking them to withdraw NPAP. The secretary of the society, D Ronald Rose, said they have given clear instructions that this year no punishments will be given due to Covid-19. “Some teachers were caught writing answers for students to copy and two of them were suspended based on an inquiry,” he said.
