Teachers: India
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Contents |
Duties
‘Can’t be asked to do duties outside RTE Act’
‘Teachers can’t be asked to do duties outside RTE Act’, January 28, 2019: The Times of India
The Delhi high court has taken the authorities to task for assigning duties to schoolteachers that are “not remotely” connected to imparting education. The high court held that principals and teachers cannot be asked by municipal corporations to perform duties outside the purview of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act and rules under it.
Justice C Hari Shankar set aside several notifications issued by the corporations requiring the principals and teachers to conduct household surveys and participate in preparation of the Ward Education Register.
The court, however, clarified that authorities are justified in seeking assistance of principals and teachers to aid in opening bank accounts of children in the school and linking them with Aadhaar cards, but the requirement cannot be treated as “mandatory” and cannot be made a basis for proceeding against them for non-rendering adequate assistance.
“This court is constrained to take judicial notice of the fact that there is a prevalent practice, in recent times, of schools assigning to teachers duties and tasks not remotely connected to imparting of education. This, in the opinion of this court, is impermissible and unconscionable in equal measure,” it said.
The court added, “Education is a serious affair, and teachers are justifiably regarded as discharging divine duties, nourishing and nurturing the minds of tomorrow. Singleminded devotion, and blind pursuit of excellence must guide every educator. It is no less than an affront, therefore, to belabour teachers with tasks which deflect, detract and distract, from the noble task of imparting education.”
Teachers, religion-wise
2016-17: Only 4.9% of higher education teachers are Muslims
Vikas Pathak, January 13, 2018: The Hindu
At 4.9%, Muslim representation among teachers in higher educational institutions in India is much lower than the community’s proportion in India’s population (14.2%).
The All-India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) for the year 2016-17 reveals this. The representation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is also lower than the populations of the two categories.
While the survey – done by the Ministry of Human Resource Development – shows the representation of SCs at 8.3% of the total number of teachers in higher educational institutions, ST representation is 2.2%.
The Scheduled Castes account for 16.6% of India’s population and STs about 8.6%.
Telangana has 10.8% SC and 3.6% ST teachers, Andhra Pradesh has 13.6% SC and 1.6% ST teachers, and Maharashtra has 11% SC and 1.4% ST teachers.
“At the all-India level, teachers belonging to the general category are more than half, that is, 58.2% of the total number of teachers in India; OBCs follow at 31.3%,” says the survey report.
While there are no precise figures of the population of the general category and OBCs in India – since there have been no caste census data since 1931, except for SC/ST populations – the OBC population has been estimated at about 41% by NSSO and 52% by the Mandal Commission.
While one reason for the skew in representation may be variable access to higher education – a must for teaching at these levels – the data reveal that SC, ST and OBC reservations have still not brought about representational parity.
The report also details the gender distribution in the teaching profession at the higher education level.
Bihar comes across as having a hugely skewed gender ratio, with 75.3% male teachers and just 24.7% female teachers. Jharkhand also shows an excess of male teachers, with the ratio at 60:40.
“A few states Kerala, Punjab, Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Delhi and Goa have more female teachers than male teachers,” says the report.
