Odisha to make teachers accountable for students' performance in schools

BHUBANESWAR: The state government has decided to make teachers accountable for the performance of students by keeping a record of their school results from Classes I to VIII from the new academic session. Explanations will be sought from teachers and action may also be taken against them for a dip in the academic standard of students. Besides, teachers have also been asked to link their Aadhar with U-DISE to create a database of teachers.

"The answer sheets of students from Classes I to VIII will be kept in the block office where year-wise documentation of their scores will be made. If a child's performance deteriorates remarkably, explanation will be sought from the subject teacher concerned," a senior official of the school and mass education department said. The official added that if 60% students of a particular class secure less than 50% in a subject, notice will be issued to the subject teacher concerned and also the headmaster of the school. The decision was discussed in a meeting of all district project coordinators (DPC) and block education officers of the state held here last week.

"By checking the scores of the students, the performance of teachers will also be evaluated. The new system will be implemented from the 2019 academic session," the official said.

'Students fare badly in reading, maths'

According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), students of elementary levels up to standard VIII in government schools of Odisha have shown poor language reading, arithmetic and English reading skills.

Worried over the poor learning outcomes, the state government had also launched two learning enhancement programmes (LEP), aimed to benefit 40 lakh students from Classes 1 to VIII in government schools across the state.

"Remedial classes will be held for slow learners so that their standards can be improved significantly while teachers have been asked to take such class every day for primary classes and three hours on every Monday for the secondary class students," said the official.

The initiative was hailed by educationists. "This is certainly a good step to monitor the performances of teachers. But many other issues like the salary of teachers, filling up of vacancies, other non-academic activities like engaging them in mid-day meal and other programmes demand government attention," Ramakrushna Patnaik, a retired education officer, said.

There are around 60 lakh students in government elementary schools between Classes I to VIII, This includes 28.89 lakh girls.