The Kerala Pradesh School Teachers’ Association (KPSTA) has decided against cooperating with activities planned by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and the Samagra Shiksha Kerala during the summer vacations.
The activities have been planned without discussion with Quality Improvement Programme (QIP) teacher organisations, the KPSTA alleged in a statement here on Saturday. Teachers and students were being used as a pawns for fund utilisation, it said. Though as experts in child development highlighted the importance of summer vacations, such unilateral decisions took away children’s rights, it said.
Teachers would be preparing for election duty, teacher training, and preparations for the new academic year during the vacations. Launching initiatives such as the academic support programme at this time would only muddy the education sector waters.
The programme was aimed at hiding the government’s failures in this field. Anti-democratic decisions taken without taking teachers’ forums into confidence should be withdrawn by the government, a meeting of the KPSTA State secretariat demanded.
