Teachers’ organisations have expressed apprehension over the latest directive of the Director of Collegiate Education (DCE) to the principals of government and government-aided colleges, asking them to maintain Annual Confidential Reports (ACR) of teaching faculty.
Extension of the concept of maintaining ACR, which was, so far, meant to assess employees of other government departments, has caused consternation among the teachers’ unions.
During the seventies and eighties, ‘efficiency bar’ used to be the tool for assessing the entitlement of teachers for further increments. But, the practice faded as years passed by.
“The ACR, supposed to be used as a tool for career planning and training, could be “misused by college heads to settle scores”, particularly with members of teachers’ unions espousing their rights,” says former president of Association of University Teachers K. Pandian.
The rule book says that maintenance of ACR is not a fault finding process, but a developmental tool, and also emphasises that the reporting authority, the reviewing authority and the accepting authority should not shy away from reporting shortcomings in performance, attitudes or overall personality of the officer reported upon.
ACR graded between 8 and 10 is rated ‘outstanding’, between 6 and 8 as ‘very good’, between 4 and short of six as ‘good’. ACR graded below four will be given a score of zero.
The directive requires the principals of government and government-aided colleges to send self-appraisal reports with a copy of the ACRs for a period of five years while forwarding proposals to the government for preparation of panels.
The format for writing confidential reports on officers in public services factors in length of service; details of leave; and trainings attended during the period under report.
Forty percent is awarded for work output (accomplishment of planned work/ subjects allotted, quality of output, analytical ability, accomplishment of exceptional work / unforeseen tasks performed), 30% for personal attributes (attitude to work, sense of responsibility, maintenance of discipline, communication skills, capacity to work in time limit, and inter-personal relations), and 30% for functional competency (knowledge of rules/regulations/procedures n the area of function and ability to apply them correctly, strategic planning ability, decision-making ability, coordination ability, and ability to motivate and develop subordinates).
The ACR also requires the principals to reflect on the financial, moral and intellectual integrity of the teachers.
The need for maintaining ACRs does not arise in educational institutions as only those with the required attributes are recruited in the first place, Mr. Pandian pointed out.
