English standards lax at Kerala schools

Thiruvananthapuram: The standard of English teaching in many government and aided schools leaves much to be desired. English is taught in most schools by teachers who do not hold a degree in the subject, though  KER was amended  in 2003 to post English teachers in high schools. The worst affected are  schools following the state syllabus.

The state government has introduced a  ‘General Education Protection Mission’ to improve the quality of teaching in government and aided schools.  But this has not   addressed  the  issue of English teaching.

The mission helped in increasing the number of students  enrolled in class 1  from 2,49,533 in the 2016-17 academic year to 2,61,731  in 2017-18—a jump of  12,198.  

The year also witnessed 1, 45,208 admissions in  classes II to IX-- an increase of 16,710 over the last year.

Mr  Sujeev Jose,  English teacher of Government Higher Secondary School, Neduveli,   told Deccan Chronicle that the  schools can make appointments only when there are five divisions as per norms. A  second teacher can be appointed only if there are nine divisions.

All-Kerala School Teachers Union (AKSTU) president N. Sreekumar said that English was taught by  mathematics or social studies teachers in the absence of English teachers.

Most of those appointed to  overcome the shortage of English teachers were  juniors. They would be  thrown out in case of division fall,  said Mr Sreekumar.
In classes 1 to 7, there are no specialised teachers for English as the minimum qualification to teach in upper primary and lower primary classes is  Plus-Two and the Teachers Training Course (TTC).

The ‘Hello English’ programme introduced in  primary schools to improve  English teaching had helped the students much. This should be  extended  to high schools also,  he said.

The status of  'English' was  amended as language     as per the KER (Amendment) Rules 2003, introduced with retrospective effect from January 7, 2002.  The post  of English teacher is  sanctioned on the basis of the periods allocated to English, observing minimum subject requirement, as per this amendment.

Moreover,  the Kerala High Court in Minimol v State of Kerala case in 2011 had  pointed out that the KER provides for the creation (of the post of HSA (Eng).   In T.R. Ramachandran Nair case in 2012,   the court clarified that “it is obvious that a qualified hand alone can be appointed in terms of Rule 6.1 with regard to English post.”

On the fixation of the strength of teachers in departmental and aided schools, the  KER  had mentioned  the calculation of periods for sanctioning the posts of teachers for languages other than regional languages.

“The total effective strength of pupils studying a particular language other than the regional language shall be calculated on the basis of the total number of pupils in all the divisions in a standard in a school and the number of divisions may be arrived at as per the maximum strength provided for in rule 23 of chapter VI,”  it  said.

On sanctioning of posts of high school assistant (English), it  had mentioned that “notwithstanding anything contained in any other rule in this chapter,  the post of high school assistant (English) shall be sanctioned on the basis of the periods allocated to English, observing minimum subject requirement.”