UP government schools to start the practice of holding regular parent-teacher meetings

The government primary and upper-primary schools in Uttar Pradesh will now start the practice of holding parent-teacher meetings (PTM) in the New Year.

According to the officials, the PTM would be held on the second Monday of January, April, July and October. If there is a holiday on the second Monday, it would be held on the next working day.

The head teacher would inform the parents about the PTM by writing in their children's notebooks two days in advance.

The officials have also made it mandatory for the teachers to be present during the PTM.

Parent-teacher meetings are an integral part of education in private schools, but government schools rarely follow the practice.

In Bareilly, a beginning has already been made and the Basic Shikha Adhikari (BSA), Tanuja Tripathi said: "We will organise first PTM in January in primary and upper primary schools of the district. We have issued directions to teachers in this regard. Annual functions in schools will be held in February."

The schools have been asked to utilise 10 per cent of the funds from the composite grant for holding the annual functions in February. A school receives annual composite grants ranging from Rs 20,000 to one lakh, depending upon the strength of students, said a senior official in the basic education department.

At the parent-teacher meetings, the teachers have been asked to inform parents about the importance of attendance of students and also discuss the importance of education if the school has a high dropout rate.

The student's behavior issues will also be discussed at the meetings and parents will also be encouraged to talk about family problems, if any.

"We are asking teachers to create awareness among parents about school activities, including Yoga, kitchen garden, and sports and other government campaigns like midday meals, "Poshan" and deworming pills," the official added.

For annual functions, cultural programs including dance, song and plays will focus on issues like cleanliness, environment, conservation of water and ban on plastic.