Teachers, Curriculum and Monitoring

In one line

Sections 20 to 39 deal with teachers, curriculum, monitoring and grievance redressal, and section 31 confers the monitoring function on the National and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights, joining this Act to the 2005 Act.

Teachers: sections 23 to 28

Section 23, qualifications. A person possessing the minimum qualifications laid down by the academic authority authorised by the Central Government shall be eligible for appointment as a teacher, with power to relax where a State does not have adequate institutions offering courses or training, and a requirement that a serving teacher lacking the qualifications acquire them within a prescribed period.

Section 24, duties of a teacher. To maintain regularity and punctuality in attending school; to conduct and complete the curriculum within the specified time; to assess the learning ability of each child and supplement additional instruction if required; to hold regular meetings with parents and guardians and apprise them of the child's attendance, ability, progress and other relevant information; and to perform other prescribed duties.

A teacher who commits default is liable to disciplinary action, subject to an opportunity of being heard.

Section 25, pupil-teacher ratio. The appropriate Government and local authority shall ensure that the ratio specified in the Schedule is maintained in each school, within three years, and shall ensure that no teacher posted in a school has a pupil-teacher ratio exceeding the norm, with a bar on urban-rural imbalance in deployment.

Section 26, vacancies. The appointing authority shall ensure that the vacancy of teachers in a school does not exceed ten per cent of the total sanctioned strength.

Section 27, no non-educational duties. No teacher shall be deployed for any non-educational purposes other than the decennial population census, disaster relief duties or duties relating to elections to the local authority, the State Legislature or Parliament.

That section is a genuine protection and is regularly breached, and it should be given because it is specific and checkable.

Section 28, no private tuition. No teacher shall engage himself or herself in private tuition or private teaching activity.

Curriculum and evaluation: sections 29 and 30

Section 29(1) requires the curriculum and the evaluation procedure to be laid down by an academic authority specified by the appropriate Government.

Section 29(2) sets out what the academic authority shall have regard to, and the list is the substantive standard of the Act:

conformity with the values enshrined in the Constitution;

all round development of the child;

building up the child's knowledge, potentiality and talent;

development of physical and mental abilities to the fullest extent;

learning through activities, discovery and exploration in a child friendly and child centred manner;