Sunday 12 June 2011

Orissa: Teachers' Body NCE seeks disengagement of teachers from MDM scheme

The National Coalition for Education (NCE), a national level voluntary organisation working on children, on Saturday urged the Odisha government to disengage teachers from the management of the mid-day meal (MDM) programme.
Briefing newsmen here, senior journalist and NCE steering committee member Girija Shankar Das said that the decision of the state government to involve headmasters of schools for the management of the MDM scheme is violative of the Article 27 of the Right to Education Act-2009.
Since the management of the MDM scheme is a difficult task and at the same time it would create problem in the study atmosphere of the school, the state government should immediately withdraw the order to involve the teachers in the non-educational work.
Das also urged the state government formulate a policy on children for their integrated development in line with the National Policy on Children.
Besides, he also advocated that the state government should initiate a strong civil society network to address the issues relating to the children including the child labour problem.
NCE member Naba Kishore Pujari said that the organisation in collaboration with the Odisha Shiksha Adhikar Abhiyan (OSSA) would organise a seminar titled, ‘Warning! Children in Hazardous Work’, on the occasion of the International Day against Child Labour on June 12.
Various issues relating to opportunities and challenges in the field of child labour and right to education in Odisha would be deliberated upon in the seminar.
Alleging that the hype on quality education in the State has become a farce, OSSA representative Anil Pradhan demanded appointment of regular teachers instead of Shiksha Sahayaks.
This Shiksha Sahayak system, in course of time, would paralyse the school education system, he warned.
Stating that the state government has no specific data on the status of child labour, Pradhan pleaded for a special action plan involving the concerned departments to eradicate the child labour system.

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