As the educational officers refuse an extension order to the teachers, education is being affected for the government school students in the middle of the academic year in the Coimbatore district. In this regard, teachers said that the extension order has been refused to teachers who were willing to work until this academic year due to the educational officers' lethargy, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
Tamil Nadu Graduate Teacher Federation District Secretary B Manikandan told TNIE that government order 115 released by the school education department clearly stated that as per their wish, teachers who will get retirement in the middle of the academic year can teach at schools till the completion of the academic year which is calculated from June to May. This order is being followed by all districts appropriately except for Coimbatore, he added.
"For instance, a science teacher, P Suganthi who worked at Panchayat Union Middle school at VK Kaliyapuram at Pollachi approached the Block Educational Officer (BEO) and sought an extension period as her retirement date was on February 28. But, Block Educational Officer and District Educational Officer (DEO) who is on medical leave, did not respond to her even when she submitted a letter," he recalled.
Therefore, "Condemning this, we staged a protest at the block education office, after that, officers did not take measures due to the lethargy," he alleged. Giving more details, he said, "As she retired in the middle of the academic year, students from Classes VI to VIII cannot study lessons in Science subjects under that teacher's supervision till the end of this academic year. Their education will be affected," he said.
As a solution, he urged school education commissioner K Nandakumar to send a fresh circular to educational officers at the district level so that the extension period should not be refused to the teachers.
Other concerns
The district school education department neither extended a teacher's extension period nor deployed a teacher for Social Science in school. Explaining this, as per the sources from the district, a Social Science teacher who worked at Mathuvarayapuram government higher secondary school outskirts approached officers seeking the extension period a month ago. Permission was denied by the officers. Plus, officers did not deploy a Social Science teacher in the school, they added.
Moreover, students struggle to prepare for the Class X Board examination without teachers' guidance. Repeated attempts to reach Chief Educational Officer R Boopathi went in vain.