Teachers feel burdened by competency programme

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 29

Teachers at government schools have criticised the Education Department for launching new programmes that had ‘no relevance’ and diverting from the academic agenda. The recent, Competency Enhancement Programme launched following Mission Samrath, had exhausted the teaching fraternity, rued the teachers.

Tehel Singh of the Government School Teachers’ Union told The Tribune that the department took all of the work from the teachers except for teaching the students properly.

“The Competency Enhancement Programme is for students in grades III–X. OMR sheets are used to administer tests in four subjects — Punjabi, Maths, Science, and Social Science — every 10-15 days. The students perform on the sheets, and then it’s the teachers’ turn to fill the Excel sheets, with each column containing each student’s performance. The last test was conducted on August 20, and we were able to send the lists by August 28 after much work filling the sheets. During the process, students’ normal academic performance suffered. Our energies have shifted to other projects,” Tehel Singh explained.

Another teacher from the Democratic Teachers’ Front, Gurpreet Singh, said the programme had flaws. “For one, we were losing interest in the traditional education system, and the government wanted us to be efficient in online teaching. Second, question papers and practice sheets were sent in soft copy, and teachers/schools must print them on their own expense. Third, a significant amount of time was wasted in compiling the results, and teachers were under tremendous pressure to fill the spreadsheets. Class studies are bound to suffer as a result of this exercise,” Singh said, adding that students became accustomed to one-word answers but lose interest when asked longer questions.