Seven years have elapsed since the Right to Education (RTE) Act was introduced, but the State government is dragging its feet over implementing a rule in the Act that fixes the minimum qualification of a teacher to be posted as head teacher in primary schools.
The RTE Act stipulates that a teacher should have minimum 12-year teaching experience and passed departmental tests and the test in the Kerala Education Act and Rules (KEAR). The Act also provides the head teacher aspirants time up to three years to pass the mandatory Account (lower) test and the KEAR test. The Central RTE Act in Section 23(2) allows relaxation of minimum qualification requirement for a period not exceeding five years if teachers with required qualification are not available in sufficient numbers. Though that time limit is over by now, it is being extended forever.
Pivot of school
“The head teacher is the pivot of a school as he or she is the link for downward and upward communication on matters relating to educational programmes,” said K.P. Suresh, head of the department and Dean, School of Education, Central University of Kerala in Kasaragod. That link would be weakened if the head teacher is less qualified than the teachers under him or her. The quality stipulation in the RTE Act should be reflected in the appointment of head teachers, Prof. Suresh added.
According to teachers who qualified the test, the quality requirements under the RTE Act are being diluted by the continuation of the exemption, allegedly under pressure from teachers’ organisations cutting across political affiliations. The State government adopted K-TET (Kerala Teachers Eligibility Test) recently for teaching profession in addition to the academic and professional qualifications.
In compliance with the Kerala Administrative Tribunal’s order in October 2017, the State in February issued an order that the test qualification is required for promotion to the post of head teacher in primary schools. Qualified teachers, however, say that sub-rule (4) under 45B in the KEAR torpedoes that order.
“We have represented to authorities to ensure that the mandatory test qualification is enforced for promotion of teachers as head teachers,” said K.N. Anand, president of the Kerala Test Qualified Primary Teachers’ Union.
Exemption from 1978
According to the test-qualified teachers, this exemption is not available in any other State under the RTE Act. The exemption from acquiring the qualifications continues indefinitely from 1978 onwards, though it was to have ended in 1986. Similar exemptions for teachers in high schools were revoked by the State as a result of Supreme Court orders and possible loss of Central funds