The Karnataka Rajya Madhyamika Shikshaka Sangha has demanded that the State government come out with a new education policy in tune with the national education policy which is on the anvil.
Addressing a joint press conference here on Sunday, president of the Sangha K. Balakrishna Bhat, working president and BJP MLC Arun Shahapur, Amarnath Patil, MLC, and the former MLC Shashil G. Namoshi, said that in the interests of the students and their academic career, the education policies of the State and Union governments should work in tandem.
Mr. Shahapur said the state education policy should be along the lines of the national education policy to have some uniformity in education.
The State education policy should be so designed that it also has Lower Primary (class 1 to 4), Primary (class 5 to 7), High School (class 8 to 10) as was being planned at the national level.
At present in the State, it was not clear whether class 8 should be considered as high school since in a few primary schools, class 8 has been introduced by upgrading the schools as higher primary institutions.
“This confusion should end and there should be clarity of primary and high schools and the classes that are included in primary and high schools,” Mr. Shahapur said.
Teacher appointments
He said that due to lack of clarity on where to bracket class 8, there was a lack of clarity in the appointment of teachers in the primary and high schools.
Currently, teachers were appointed to primary and higher primary sections as per the scale of trained graduate teachers. The government, while giving permission to new high schools in the State, considered only classes 9 and 10 as high school.
Mr. Shahapur wanted the government to delink examination from the renewal of recognition of aided and unaided schools since it was creating hurdles to the students.
He pointed out that there were many instances of students studying for SSLC examinations being denied OMR sheets and hall tickets by the examination authorities if the school had not renewed its recognition.
