ENVIS Centre, Ministry of Environment & Forest, Govt. of India
Printed Date: Saturday, April 27, 2024
Students with ‘poor’ academic records a
Students with ‘poor’ academic records asked to leave school
The Hindu by P. M. Veerendra, Shimoga 20th September 2014
Incident took place in government high school at Durgigudi in Shimoga district: In a shocking incident, teachers at the government high school at Durgigudi locality here forced Godawari M., a physically challenged girl, to take here transfer certificate (TC) and appear for the 10th standard examination as an external candidate as she had an “average” academic record.
Along with Godawari, five other 10th standard students in the school whom the teachers considered “poor” in studies have been issued transfer certificates and they have been asked to appear for SSLC exam as external candidates. Parents, members of School Development Management Committee, and representatives of civil society organisations had staged a protest on the school premises against this.
Murali, Godawari’s father, had lodged a complaint with Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar on Wednesday, and the latter has directed a probe into it. Deputy Director of Public Instruction B.C. Basavarajappa told The Hindu that, prima facie, it seemed that with the objective to secure 100 per cent results for the school, the teachers had asked the students with average academic record to take the TC and appear for the exam as external candidates, which is against the law.
A panel, comprising senior officials of the department, had been formed to probe into the incident. All the six students for whom TCs were issued would be enrolled back to the school, he said. Mr. Murali told this correspondent that even after the issue of TC, the students were attending classes but their names were to be deleted from the register. They were to appear for the exam as external candidates.
As a major chunk of parents who send their wards to this school are either non-literate or have limited education, they were ignorant of this practice. “The teachers have behaved in an inhuman manner,” said Mr. Murali.
Gopalakrishna, the local councillor, said that when efforts were being made to bring back the out-of school children to the purview of formal education system through Sarva Shikshana Abhiyan and other schemes, the teachers here have acted in a contrary manner. Anantha, a social activist who was part of the protest, said that the teachers here feared that poor results would result in their transfer.