Uttar Pradesh Mandates Schools To Display Teachers' Photos To Curb Proxy Teaching
The presence of proxy or impersonated teachers in government schools is a very common phenomenon, especially in North and Northeastern Indian schools which compromise the quality of education of millions of students. Government teachers posted to places they do not like or are distant from their hometown, send substitutes to take their places paying them a fraction of their salaries. Reportedly, as unemployment is high in tier-three and four towns, finding these proxies becomes easier.
This problem is endemic in schools where few teachers are posted and takes place with the collaboration of colleagues and other staff members. One such major scandal emerged when a teacher named Anamika Shukla was alleged to be teaching at 25 different schools in UP at a time and earned 1 crore in 13 months. Notably, one prominent reason behind this is said to be that the schools are seldom monitored by the authorities which makes them prone to proxy or substitute.
To curb this menace of teacher proxies and absenteeism in Uttar Pradesh, the state government introduced a new regulation and directed all district basic education officers to follow the procedure. Under the issued guidelines, all teachers including ‘Anudeshak’ and ‘Shiksha Mitra’ are mandated to display their photos in their respective classrooms. The display should include comprehensive information about teachers encompassing their educational qualifications, date of joining the school, designated class, contact number, and subject expertise. They are also requested to add any additional achievement to the display.
As per the officials, displaying photographs of teachers in schools will allow students, administrators, and parents to identify substitutes easily. The familiarity of teachers with parents will also empower parents to raise issues if a teacher is using any proxy or impersonification.
Earlier, talking about the need to remove the proxy teacher system, PM Narendra Modi had also suggested the use of teachers” photographs with their names in the classrooms so that students and parents can easily identify and report against the use of substitutes.
Such cases of proxy teaching compromise the Right to Education Act and implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 as there are no expert teachers to teach students.
