New Delhi, March 12 Rajya Sabha Samajwadi Party MP Javed Ali Khan said on Thursday that teaching in primary schools in Uttar Pradesh has been severely affected as teachers have been assigned to carry out "Shiksha Mitra" activities and other non-academic tasks.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the House, Khan also expressed concern over the large number of vacancies in schools.
"The government's network of primary education in Uttar Pradesh has almost collapsed…Teaching is not taking place in schools," he said, highlighting that nearly 1.5 lakh "Shiksha Mitras" are working for meager salaries.
He further said that out of the 4.18 lakh permanent teacher positions in the state, 85,000 are vacant.
While there is a shortage of teachers in primary schools in Uttar Pradesh, the remaining teachers have been tasked with Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
"For the last five months, all teachers have been engaged in SIR. No teaching work is taking place anywhere," Khan said.
He further said that besides SIR, teachers are also asked to carry out census works and ration card verification, among other tasks.
Citing a high court order, the SP member demanded that primary teachers should not be assigned non-academic tasks, apart from disaster management.
In his Zero Hour mention, Sanjay Raut (SS-UBT) made a strong case for granting a Legislative Assembly to Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu to ensure democratic representation for the people of the Union Territory.
Paka Venkata Satyanarayana (BJP) spoke on the need for greater accountability and local utilization of CSR funds by private companies.
