Students in pre-primary sections attached to State schools need not wear uniforms.
A government order has freed students in parent-teacher association (PTA)-run pre-primary sections attached to State schools from the monotony of uniforms. The decision comes on the recommendation that uniforms run contrary to the idea of an unconstrained preschool environment.
The recommendation was made by a committee appointed by the Director of General Education to study various issued related to preschools.
Against order
The government also decided that pre-primary teachers and ayahs appointed by PTAs after 2012 without government sanction need not be paid honorarium. Orders had been issued earlier that preschools should not be started as part of schools from December 7, 2012. However, many PTAs went ahead and started preschool classes, and such a situation should be avoided, the committee had recommended. Since the government’s orders had been violated, it was decided that no honorarium be paid to the teachers and ayahs.
Training
The government also decided that pre-primary teacher training provided by the government undertaking KELTRON and other institutions, did not follow the guidelines of the National Council of Teacher Education, and hence need not be considered for pre-primary teacher appointments. The committee reported that a study conducted by the State Council of Educational Research and Training in 2019-20 had found that 341 pre-primary teacher training institutions, including KELTRON, were not functioning as per the NCTE guidelines.
