Teachers given targets for student enrolment

Kurnool: Teacher and lecturers are experiencing a nightmarish experience these days. Their position at schools and colleges is safe if they follow the norms laid by their managements and if overlooked they would be kicked away. The nightmarish experience is nothing but to achieve the targets of joining students in their schools and colleges.

Each teacher and lecturer has to join at least 10 students for the academic year besides giving publicity to their institutions. With the setting of targets, teachers and lecturers are running up and down knocking door to door in the district.There are around 120 Intermediate Jr. Colleges and 1052 Private Management Schools functioning in the district. A teaching staff of 1500 lecturers and 80000 teachers are engaged to teach the subjects to 2.30 lakh students.

Out of the 2.30 lakh around 1.90 lakh students are said to be pursuing education in 1st to 8th class.To cope with the heavy competition in the private sector, the school and college managements have set a target to the teaching staff to join at least 10 students for the academic year, failing which they have to face retrenchment. With the setting of targets, the teachers and lecturers are taking to their heels setting everything aside to catch the students.

Unmindful of the scorching heat, they are making rounds knocking door to door to achieve their given target for the academic year. While going door to door to seek admissions besides giving publicity to their schools/colleges several teachers and lecturers were said to have been hospitalised due to mental torture. And some of them were given treatment for suffering sun strokes.

This phenomenon of joining students was not reserved to the teachers alone it has involved the entire family members.To save the teachers from mental agony, the family members have to take the pains of joining the students by seeking help from near and dear. K Shobha Devi a lecturer of a private college speaking to this correspondent said, teaching profession is losing its sheen.

Earlier a teacher was given high regard and he or she was respected by one and all. There was no need to go around begging for students to join in schools.The parents of the students used to approach the schools and enquire about the standards of teaching. Later they speak with the management about the fee particulars and then join their kids. The process has just reversed now.

Teachers have to approach the parents and explain about the school ambience and the quality of teaching and then negotiate about fees to join their children. This is just a disgusting one, she lamented.Another teacher of a private school placed at Adoni said these days a teacher is playing the role of a mediator. He is more a mediator and less a teacher. With this kind of attitude, the quality of education is declining.

There should be a separate staff for giving wide publicity about the school or college and get enrolments. A teacher should be strictly directed to impart quality education to students. This will give a good boost to the education fields and with the encouragement the teacher will strive to give his level best. He further stated that the education system needs drastic changes, he stated.He further said what the District Education Officer (DEO) and Regional Inspection Officer (RIO) are doing against these institutions. They should immediately cancel the identity of those schools/colleges, he added.

By V Narendra Kumar