MBBS bond policy invited wrath; tablet distribution earned praise

Ravinder Saini

Rohtak, December 29

The bond policy for the MBBS course, online transfers of school teachers, the move to conduct board exams of Classes V and VIII of all schools and the assignment of non-academic work to college teachers were some of the issues, which not only invited the wrath from the stakeholders but also put the state government in the dock this year.

The agitation carried out by the MBBS students of all government medical colleges in the state lasted 54 days, which forced the government to issue a revised policy by reducing the bond time from seven years to five years with the inclusion of the time of doing postgraduation (PG). Moreover, the bond amount of Rs 40 lakh was also reduced to Rs 30 lakh besides giving 10 per cent relaxation to girls. However, the protesting students were demanding withdrawal of the policy.

The agitation gained strength with main leaders of all opposition political parties, office-bearers of the Indian Medical Association, District Bar Association and several other outfits expressing solidarity with the students.

The state government carried out an online transfer drive for school teachers, but this time, the drive led to deepen the crisis of shortage of teachers in many government schools, which did not get adequate numbers of teachers in the drive. The staff shortage forced the students and their parents to lock the main gate of their schools and organise demonstrations in several districts.

The government’s decision to conduct board exams of classes V and VIII of all government and private schools irrespective of their boards led to resistance by private schools affiliated to the CBSE across the state. They approached the High Court against it, pleading that mandating Class VII exams by the Board of School Education, Haryana, for all schools would mean dual affiliation, which was neither practical nor feasible. Finally, the government had to take back the decision after a tug-of-war with private schools for several weeks.

Diploma in elementary education (D.El.Ed), an elementary education course being run by more than 340 self-financing colleges, was discontinued this year citing the New Education Policy 2020.

The government earned appreciation by launching e-adhigam, an innovative and ambitious tablet-based learning scheme for government school students. It set the target to provide free tablets to five lakh students in Classes X, XI and XII with pre-loaded personalised and adaptive learning software, learning content and high-speed Internet connectivity.

Another novel initiative was taken for monitoring the functioning of government schools by roping in higher officers to visit the schools of all districts. As per the programme, different teams of officers simultaneously visit government schools in a district. They interact with teachers and students regarding their issues besides inspecting infrastructure and academic activities.