The Rajasthan Government has issued guidelines forbidding government school teachers from giving private tuition. The Director of Education has issued an order directing all District Education Officers to enforce these guidelines.
The Education Department has framed very stringent rules preventing teachers in government schools from conducting private tuition or working with coaching centers. However, in a special consideration, teachers can give tuition at home of three students maximum with the prior permission of the head of the institution.
New Tuition Rules for Government Teachers
As per directions issued, it is mandatory for all government subject teachers to submit an affidavit declaring that they will not engage in private tuition at the beginning of every academic session. The Director of Education also directed every district education officer to enforce the directives. These guidelines come in the wake of numerous reports of teachers being found to have been teaching at different tuition centers, which triggered the issue.
The notice directed all school headmasters to identify teachers running private coaching classes without any departmental approval. Complaints regarding the practice shall lead to action being taken against the respective teacher. Moreover, the district educational officers were instructed to follow up the situation by talking directly to students during school visits.
The main motive for issuing the guidelines, as the Director of Education stated, was to eliminate private tuition by ensuring that classroom education is adequate and effective. Private tuition had come to be relied upon due to teacher-student ratios being very high or teachers themselves not carrying out their responsibilities. The onus for preventing such malpractice has been placed on institutional heads.
However, any teacher found violating such rules shall face disciplinary action according to these guidelines. The initiative forms part of efforts that have been initiated to improve the quality of teaching in government schools and make more sure that teachers spend time on their actual duties within the school system. The initiative is expected to promote greater accountability and transparency in education in the state of Rajasthan and ensure educational needs of learners are taken care of well within school hours rather than relying on external tuition.
The aim of the directive is, on the one hand, to streamline educational practices, while on the other, to instill in the public an abiding faith in the education system, through ensuring that teachers devote the entire time to school activities. The Rajasthan Education Department wishes to ensure that these guidelines will foster an environment of enabling all the students to receive a quality education without any financial burden being placed on the parents.
Source – Rajasthan Patrika
