CHENNAI: The school education department has set off the alarm bells by operationalising a controversial staffing norm that effectively provides just one Physical Education Teacher (PET) for up to 700 students in government high and higher secondary schools.
Though the G.O. creating PET posts was issued on March 12 this year, it remained largely out of public view. The order has now been circulated to chief educational officers across districts for taking action.
Under the earlier rules, a school became eligible for getting a PET once enrolment in Classes 6 to 10 crossed 250 students, with additional posts sanctioned for every additional 300 students thereafter.
On the upside, the latest order creates 1,328 PET and 297 Physical Education Director Grade-II posts. According to the G.O., the state has 2,864 government and municipal high schools and 2,913 higher secondary schools, taking the total number of schools to 5,777. Yet, the state currently has only 4,571 PET posts, 93 Physical Education Director Grade-II posts and 406 Physical Education Director Grade-I posts.
The department has calculated that 4,964 schools with a strength of up to 700 students require only one PET each. Among larger schools, 17 high schools with more than 700 students would be eligible for two PET posts.
Similarly, 691 higher secondary schools with a strength between 701 and 1,500 students would be entitled for one PET and one Physical Education Director Grade-II post, while 105 schools with more than 1,500 students would be eligible for two PETs and one Physical Education Director Grade-II post.
Physical education teachers said with only 93 Grade-II and 406 Grade-I director posts available at present, promotion opportunities for them have remained severely restricted, forcing many teachers to retire in the same post in which they were recruited.
Teacher associations, however, said the increase in posts is grossly inadequate and comes at the cost of drastically diluting staffing norms. State president of Graduate Physical Education Teachers’ Association R Jayadevan said, “Retaining the earlier norms and filling vacancies would help improve discipline and sports participation among students. The government is putting both at risk.”
This story has been written by Subashini Vijayakumar of The New Indian Express.
