MUMBAI:
The revised Maharashtra Employees in Private Schools rules, which are yet to be
approved by the government, bar teachers from giving tuitions. The existing
rules permit teachers to coach up to five students or give private tuitions for
two hours a day.
The revised
rules were forwarded about six months ago by the education department to the law
and judiciary department. The rules govern service conditions for teaching and
non-teaching staff in private, unaided
institutions.
They allow school
managements to sack teachers who give private tuitions if a complaint is made
and an inquiry finds the accusation true. The rules say a teacher can either
coach or teach, not do
both.
Teachers have mixed
reactions to the proposal. "The current rules, which allow teachers to take
tuitions, are being misused by several people. Because the government cannot
come out with two sets of rules, one for the honest teachers and one for
dishonest ones, the new norms make sense. However, it is going to be extremely
difficult for the government to implement this rule," said a teacher in a
prominent ICSE school.
The
misuse concerns teachers favouring their private tuition students over others,
especially while assessing school exams and tests. But a senior teacher in a
CBSE school added that the new rules will see a lot of good teachers leaving
schools to take up coaching full-time, because salaries do not reflect the time
and effort they put in.
The
revisions include a change in the reservation policy too. Currently, 34% of the
posts have to be set aside for reserved category candidates.
The proposal is for a whopping
52%. Interestingly, instead of spending time on real issues, the state
legislative council wasted nearly two hours last week on rules that have not
been included in the proposal sent to the law
department.
The issue was raked
up by independent MLC from teacher’s constituency Kapil Patil. He caused a
flutter in the House when he said the draft rules do not favour teachers. The
draft rules, which Patil later distributed to journalists, did not permit
teachers to invest in stocks or futures.
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