United Teachers Federation (UTF) leaders said that given the rapid urbanization and expansion of cities, the government should introduce additional primary and high schools in the municipal education sector to meet the educational needs of the growing population.
Addressing a state conference of municipal teachers organized by the UTF here on Saturday, PDF floor leader in the Legislative Council V. Balasubramaniam said that since 40% of the state’s population lives in urban areas, a proportionate number of teachers are appointed in the schools located should be done. in cities.
“But there are neither adequate number of schools nor teaching staff in municipal schools,” he said.
He said that the majority of the urban population consists of people migrating to the cities in search of livelihood.
They bring along their children, who turn to child labour, supplementing the income of their parents, he said, adding: “It is the duty of the school education department to check this trend and act on the Right to Education Act.” Enroll them in the schools designated by them, by setting up additional schools and allotting adequate staff.”
MLC said that comprehensive development of urban areas is possible only with the development of urban education. For this purpose the education department should allocate budget and monitoring mechanism should also be taken care of by this department.
MLC KS Laxman Rao urged the school education authorities to initiate measures and increase the number of municipal schools and appoint adequate staff. “Based on the need, academic trainers may also be deployed for this purpose,” he suggested.
PDF MLA Y. Srinivasulu Reddy called for appointment of special officers to supervise these schools and said that transfer and promotion of teachers should be given annually.
UTF state general secretary KSS Prasad demanded that properties belonging to municipal schools be left untouched, rights for high school headmasters, updation of PF accounts and payment of pending amount, notional increment for special teacher service, Payment of electricity bills and rent for school buildings by Samagra Shiksha wing and implementation of GO 77 for municipal teachers.
Joint Director, Department of School Education, M. Ramalingam sought to clarify that only the monitoring of municipal schools would be taken care of by the School Education Department and it was not a complete merger. He said that from October this year, the teachers of the Municipal Corporation would get benefits at par with the teachers of Panchayat Raj Schools.
UTF state president N. Venkateshwarlu and others coordinated the meeting.