The State government has informed the Kerala High Court that it is in the process of formulating a pre-primary education policy.
In an affidavit, the government said as part of implementing the Right to Education Act, adequate steps had been taken by the government for imparting pre-school education.
As a first step, a unified child-friendly curriculum, encompassing physical, social, intellectual, and emotional development of the child, had been developed and approved. The General Education Department had also decided to provide space for anganwadis in government schools where excess accommodation was available and pre-primary school was not functioning.
The government also pointed out that as pre-primary education had been brought under the RTE Act, the government had to monitor properly the eligibility of teachers and quality of pre-primary education. Therefore, the existing teachers who did not have the prescribed qualification shall have to acquire such minimum qualification within five years.
The government added that engaging of pre-primary staff by the PTA could not be termed as statutory appointments by the government. Therefore, their claim for salary was not sustainable. Similarly placed employees in the government sector such as anganwadi worker and helper and alternative school teachers were paid only honorarium.
They were not given salary. Therefore, a hike in their honorarium could only be considered while formulating the policy. Before taking a final decision in a time bound manner, consultation with advisory departments such as Law, Finance, and Social Justice was necessary. As a policy decision was involved, approval by the Council of Ministers was mandatory.
