Admin rejects schools’ plea to operate with 33% staff

Nashik: The district administration has turned down the request of English Medium Schools’ Association to operate the educational institutions with 33% teaching and non-teaching staff.

District collector Suraj Mandhare said, “The government orders that came on May 3 specifically said that all schools and colleges are supposed to remain shut till May 17. Hence, the question of permitting schools to start operating does not arise at all,” he said.

The collector said the orders though do not specify the staff coming to school, so he will have to look into the matter.

Shrikant Shukla, a member of the association, said “We had approached the district collector on Tuesday about calling one-third of our staff to school including teachers and administrative staff members. He said that he will have to seek permission from the government about working with minimal staff and no students in the schools.”

Shukla said that it is difficult for the schools to coordinate with their staff, the students and their parents while working from home.

“The schools has been striving hard to maintain a proper teaching-learning process during the lockdown. We are conducting online classes and making sure that the students do not miss out on their lessons,” he said.

If the schools are permitted to call the teachers to the school, there will be quality control in teaching methods and an uninterrupted teaching process. Shukla said that the teachers can sit in different classrooms and conduct individual classes from there.