Higher secondary schools in Kerala not bound by QIP monitoring panel meeting decisions, says RTI reply

Higher secondary schools in Kerala are not bound by the decisions of the Quality Improvement Programme (QIP) monitoring committee of the General Education department, an RTI query has revealed.

The department takes important academic decisions, including the conduct of exams, at the QIP monitoring panel meetings.

The reply was given to S. Manoj, general secretary, Aided Higher Secondary Teachers Association. Mr. Manoj had sought to know if the higher secondary sector was supposed to follow the decisions taken at the QIP monitoring panel meetings; which were the organisations involved; what was the criterion for choosing them; and whether there were organisations representing the higher secondary sector and various categories of teachers in it.

Replies from the Directorate of General Education said that the higher secondary schools were not bound by the decisions taken at the QIP panel meetings. The teachers unions involved in it are the Kerala School Teachers Association, Kerala Pradesh School Teachers Association, All-Kerala School Teachers Union, Kerala School Teachers Union, National Teachers Union, Kerala School Teachers Council, Kerala Primary Teachers Association, Kerala Arabic Munshis Association, and the Kerala School Teachers Federation. They are chosen by the State government through an official order. The only category-based organisation involved is the munshis’ association. The reply also said that there were no teachers’ organisations representing the higher secondary sector in it.

Mr. Manoj told The Hindu that many crucial decisions concerning the higher secondary sector, such as the conduct of examinations, were being taken at the QIP meetings without any one representing it. At least some of those decisions were found to cause inconvenience to the students and teachers. Now, the government has officially confirmed that the QIP meetings had no control over the higher secondary sector, he added.

This comes against the backdrop of some of the decisions taken by the department that were first proposed at QIP meetings, later ratified by the department, but subsequently withdrawn following teachers’ unions protests.