Goa to amend recruitment rules to appoint subject-specific teachers for math and science in high schools

Panaji: Goa is set to amend its recruitment rules for high school teachers to be able to appoint subject-specific teachers for mathematics, science and social studies, as required by the Right to Education (RTE) Act. At the recent review of the implementation of the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme in the state, central officials pointed out that Goa’s high schools do not have the required number of subject-specific teachers.
The state assured that it has already proposed amendments to its recruitment rules.
As per the SSA data, at the secondary school level, only 43.8% of schools in Goa have the required three subject-specific teachers, as prescribed by the RTE norms.
This has resulted in one teacher teaching mathematics to an average of 58 students. The pupil teacher ratio (PTR) for science was 42 students per teacher and 91 students per teacher for social studies.
“The state needs to ensure the required number of mathematics, science and social studies teachers in all schools at the secondary level,” the central officials said.
Goa’s students performed below par at the National Achievement Survey (NAS) in mathematics and social science, where Goa has an adverse PTR.
This issue of a lack of subject-specific teachers was brought to the attention of Goa officials at last year’s SSA review, too.
In the NAS, girls and boys at the Class III level had an average mathematics score of 299 and 298 out of 500, respectively, which was below the national average.
At the latest review of SSA, Goa officials told the Centre, “As part of strengthening the evaluation and monitoring system, the state government has established Vidya Samiksha Kendra to evaluate and monitor the academic performance of schools, teachers and students.”
Central officials were told that the robotics and coding syllabus introduced by the state government for students from Class VI onwards was also part of the efforts “to improve the analytical, cognitive, creative and technical aspects of the students”.
Meanwhile, Goa was also told that there are around 330 surplus teachers at the upper primary level in the state who need to be redeployed to maintain the PTR as per the RTE Act.
Goa officials, however, said that it has taken up the rationalisation of teachers at the upper primary school level, and it will be reflected in next year’s central data collected under the District Information System of the Union education ministry.