Opposition-backed teachers’ organisations have expressed concerns over the first round of allotment to Plus One courses in higher secondary schools in the State that began on Monday. They claim that the assembling of a large number of students and their parents in schools is a violation of the COVID-19 protocol.
Joshy Antony, president, Kerala Aided Higher Secondary Teachers’ Association, told The Hindu on Monday that the government directive on the allotment lacked clarity. The authorities did not take teachers’ organisations into confidence before arriving at a decision to hold the process in this manner.
He pointed out that it would have been better had the allotment for admission to the Science stream was scheduled in the first two days, followed by the process for Humanities and Commerce streams. It would have helped avoid rush.
The admission will go on till Saturday. “For example, one school in Kozhikode city has four batches and 120 merit seats. All the students seeking admission need to come to the school in one day, along with their parents. This means 240 people assembling in one place,” Mr. Antony said. Fees remittance and other formalities will have to be completed by evening.
Functionaries of the Indian Union Muslim League-backed Kerala Higher Secondary Teachers’ Union said that unlike previous years, each student was being given 15 minutes and a specified date this year. In a subject combination, 30 students were allotted on a day. In schools with five or six subject combinations, this would lead to more than 150 students and their parents reaching the school. This would affect government schools more as the allotment to most seats are done in the first round itself.
‘Fix number of students’
C.T.P. Unnimoideen Kutty, general secretary of the union, said that in many schools Principals and teachers themselves were forced to do the clerical work as office staff were not able to come to work. The union urged the government to fix the number of students who could participate in the admission process at a time to address these concerns.