250 Himachal teachers to get show-cause notices over poor Class X results

Shimla, June 25

The Education Department will send show-cause notices to over 250 Trained Graduate Teachers (TGT) over the poor results of their students in the Class X board exam this year. The Directorate of Elementary Education collated the data and it came to light that the pass percentage in 116 schools was less than 25 per cent. And of these 116 schools, the pass percentage in 30 schools was zero per cent. “We are sending show-cause notices to over 250 TGTs in these 116 schools. An explanation from classical and vernacular teachers in these schools will be sought by Deputy Directors,” said Ashish Kohli, Director, Elementary Education.

May lose annual increment

• Show-cause notices are being sent to over 250 teachers in 116 schools. An explanation from classical and vernacular teachers in these schools will also be sought by Deputy Directors, said Ashish Kohli, Director, Elementary Education
• The department will write to the Education Secretary to seek an explanation from the principals or headmasters of these schools as well, said Kohli
• The annual increments of these teachers and principals/headmasters can be stopped if they are not able to offer a convincing explanation for the poor showing by the students

Kohli said that the department would write to the Secretary, Education, to seek an explanation from the principals/headmasters of these schools as well. The annual increments of these teachers and principals/headmasters could be stopped if they were not able to offer a convincing explanation for the poor showing by the students.

There’s a provision in government rules for seeking an explanation from the teachers of the schools where the board exam results were below 25 per cent. According to sources, the department has not sought explanations from teachers for the poor results for the past three-four years.

In Himachal, students are migrating from government schools to private schools at a rapid pace. Though teachers in government schools are well paid and better trained than those in most of the private schools, people prefer private institutions. Such poor results, even if in a small number of schools, will give further impetus to the exodus of students from government schools to private institutions.

“If these schools had the required strength of teachers, it’s clearly negligence on their part. It’s quite unfortunate,” said Virender Chauhan, president of the Himachal Government Teachers Union. “So, any action against teachers not doing their job is alright. Teachers are getting good salaries, so they can’t ignore their responsibilities,” he added.