ANNUAL EXAMS FOR TEACHERS
All teachers will have to sit for an exam in their own subjects and GK;
state govt wants to know if they’re fit to give lessons
SANTOSH ANDHALE
Students might just get some wicked delight out of this one. The state
government has decided that before the start of every academic year, all the
3.5 lakh teachers across the state will have to write an exam in the
subjects they teach, so that the government knows if they have the necessary
proficiency to impart lessons to children.
The “mandatory” exams, a brainchild of Education Minister Vasant Purke
who had earlier come up with the controversial idea of baseline tests, were
recently okayed by the state education department’s Quality Improvement
Cell. They will be introduced from the academic year 2008-09, and teachers
from Std I to Std X in state-run and state-recognised schools that get
grants would have to sit for them a couple of weeks before schools reopen on
June 13.
The plan at present is to give teachers three question papers, education
department officials said. The first paper would be about the subject they
teach. So a maths teacher from Std IX, for instance, would have to solve
algebra and geometry problems from the Std IX syllabus, and a language
teacher would have to display the linguistic skills that he/she would teach
school children. The second paper will be on ‘General Knowledge’ and is
intended to check if the teachers are in tune with the happenings around
them. This would help the education department know if they can take general
questions from curious students.
The third paper would address teaching techniques and methodology. While
it would include questions about the methodology being adopted by the
teacher, it would also seek his/her viewpoint on new teaching techniques.
This will help reveal the teacher’s own methods and openness to new ones,
officials said.
While this plan stands at the moment, one of the papers may also be
integrated into another at a later date, or even all three papers merged
into one to reduce the burden on teachers, officials said.
However, the one big relief for teachers is that the state is, at least
at this point in time, not talking of action against those who do poorly in
these exams. A senior official said: “Those who do badly won’t be hounded
out of the system, nor would any penalties be imposed on them. The idea is
to test a teacher’s knowledge and ensure that teachers continously improve.
The tests will ensure that teachers improve all the time. They should write
the papers in the right spirit.”
Purke said feedback had been obtained from teachers’ associations before
okaying the scheme. “The paper pattern for the tests was changed slightly
after we took feedback from the teachers in a meeting. The aim is to improve
the quality of teaching. We used to organise training for teachers every
year, but these exams will be more personal as every teacher will be
involved,” he said.
Education Minister Vasant Purke