Andhra Pradesh School Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APSERMC) Chairman Justice R Kantha Rao has taken exception to private educational institutions forcing parents — by sending SMSes or WhatsApp — to pay fee for conducting online classes.
Addressing a press conference at Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) office here on Wednesday, Justice Rao said several parents are not in a position to pay the school fee for their children. Already many schools have started sending messages to the parents for payment of transportation fee and others though the academic year is yet to be completed due to lockdown.
Stating that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is spending crores of rupees under the Nadu-Nedu scheme to improve educational standards in the State, he said, "I suggest those parents not in a position to pay fee in private schools can join their children in government schools."
The APSERMC chief opined that conducting online classes is not an effective mode of teaching, since several students do not have access to mobile phones and laptops. "We suggested the government to go for conventional method of teaching as online teaching is only a temporary alternative. It is effective for students of higher classes. Steps should be taken by the educational institutions to reduce the number of students in each class from the next academic year," he said.
Proposals are also under consideration to introduce classes on ‘honesty and integrity’, especially on curbing corruption.
The APSERMC chairman said, "Unnecessary ruckus is being created by some educational institutions regarding a notification issued to gather details about available infrastructure, teachers and others. A section of managements has even approached the judiciary. They are circulating false propaganda against the commission. They have the right to approach the judiciary, but the commission’s intention is to improve the educational standards in schools and there is no intention to cause any inconvenience to the institutions."
Commenting on the State government’s initiative to introduce English medium, Justice Rao said the court has stalled the GO issued by the government. Around 97 per cent of the parents in the State have given their go-ahead for introduction of English medium for primary classes.
He refuted the allegation that volunteers are forcing the parents to give their consent for English medium education. Responding to a query that the Board of Intermediate Education is providing recognition for the colleges online without inspecting the infrastructure available, he said the matter will be discussed with the officials concerned.
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