In its drive to improve the quality of education in the state, Madhya Pradesh government has decided to sack the teachers who will fail in the efficiency test that was conducted on November 25. The test was conducted to assess teaching abilities.
Teachers of those schools in Madhya Pradesh, which have recorded the worst performance in three consecutive years, and who also fail the qualification exams will be granted compulsory retirement, media reports quoted School Education Minister Prabhuram Chaudhury as saying.
The minister said that their focus is to improve the quality of education and that is impossible without quality teachers. “We are not going to allow such ineligible teachers,” said Chaudhary. “The decision of forced retirement and termination will be taken on the basis of age of the teachers. The teachers above 50 will be asked to take retirement.”
The minister further informed that the state government will introduce NCERT books from the next education year.
How the Decision To Test Teachers Came About
The test that was held on Monday, was the second time that non-performing teachers had to undertake it.
The exam was first organised on June 12 by the state government in 51 districts to test the subject knowledge of teachers of about 700 schools. The test was conducted following the poor board examination results of the students studying in these schools, media reports said quoting officials.
The officials said as many as 5,700 teachers were asked to take the test, the results of which were announced in July. Around 1,400 teachers could not clear the test despite it being open-book, revealed the officials.
A three-month training was provided to the teachers who had failed the test. On November 25, they were asked to reappear in the test.
The first test was conducted to fill the learning gaps between teachers and students and to know their efficiency, said Jayshree Kiyawat, a school education department official. “But the results stunned us because about 1,400 teachers could not even score 32 per cent marks. We organised the training to give them another chance. But if they fail again, we would not allow them to spoil the future of students,” she said.