The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday observed that there was a need for periodical assessment of the quality of teaching in government schools.
Justice S.M. Subramaniam directed the Secretary, School Education department, to constitute special teams in all districts under the chairmanship of Chief Educational Officer to conduct periodical inspection of government schools for assessing quality of teaching as well as knowledge acquired by students.
The court also directed the Secretary to instruct the CEOs to constitute additional teams based on the number of schools to be inspected. The additional teams should conduct frequent inspections of implementation of education policies to improve the quality of education in rural areas.
In order to assess the quality of teaching & to ascertain if it was on a par with standards prescribed under the education policy, a set of questions & answers should be formulated in consultation with experts. Further, the court directed the Secretary to monitor the functioning of special teams.
The respondent, School Education department, should ensure that students studying in elementary & primary schools were capable of reading, writing & possessed arithmetic skills. Should there be any lapses, serious action should be initiated against teachers, the court said.
The court was hearing a writ petition filed by Sowpackiavathy of Madurai, who sought to quash the disciplinary proceedings pending against her. Refusing to grant relief to the teacher, the court ordered that disciplinary proceedings for not taking classes properly be concluded as expeditiously as possible.
It was said that during an inspection of her class none of the students could answer the questions asked by the school inspector. Taking cognisance of the submission, the court observed that no teacher could take defence that students were incapable of learning, particularly those from rural areas.
