Panaji: Goa government's decision to
implement Right to Education (RTE) Act from retrospective effect has sparked opposition from school teachers.
Goa Headmasters Association (GHA) said the government has
issued the circular at the eleventh hour disturbing their
entire set up.
The State Education department, last week, had asked all
the schools not to detain any student ? from Standard I-VIII
in the same class and infact promote them to the next.
The circular came after the schools already had declared
their results, in which several students were failed.
The education department's circular stems from the letter
written by Goa State Commission for child protection, which
had expressed worries that several thousand students were
detained in the same class despite RTE disallowing such
action.
There are no modalities or criterion proposed in the
circular. The department has impromptu released it, GHA
president Sanjiv Sawant said.
The GHA official said they will ask the schools not to
implement the circular this year.
"It should be implemented from the next academic year,"
Sawant said adding that as per RTE guidelines the performance
of the student should be graded throughout the year while
allowing him to go for the next class.
He said the student will also have to be given remedial
coaching, if he is found to be a slow learner.
The state government, however, has said that the schools
cannot disobey education department's order.
"They cannot say no. They will have to obey the circular
whether they like it or not," State Education Minister
Atanasio Monserratte said.
He said the schools cannot detain the students, which is
clear in the RTE Act.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, May 11, 2011, 13:09