Kerala Teachers of Teacher Training Institutes deprived of NCTE norms

The State Government had once again overlooked the norms issued by the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) while fixing the pay scale of teachers of Teacher Training Institutes (TTIs).

The recent Pay Commission recommendations have also failed to address their issues. Following this, the Kerala Elementary Teacher Educators Association submitted a memorandum the other day to the members of the Cabinet sub-committee which was studying the Pay Commission recommendations.

The NCTE norms issued in 1998 had prescribed the upgradation of the post of teacher educator to that of lecturer as in the case of the faculty of DIET. The NCTE norms also wanted the renaming of the post of TTI headmaster to that of principal.

The Association, in the memorandum, had wanted the pay scale of the TTI teachers to be fixed on par with that of higher secondary school teachers or that of the DIET faculty. Now, the pay scale of TTI teacher is equivalent to that of high school assistants.

The argument of the Association is that like higher secondary school teacher and the DIET faculty, the minimum qualification for TTI instructor is also post-graduation along with BEd.

The present pay scale of TTI instructors was fixed in 1960 when the qualification for admission to TTI was a pass in eighth standard. However, now the minimum qualification for admission to TTI was fixed as a pass in Plus-II.

However, the government refused to heed to the demands of TTI teachers on the ground that their vacancies were filled by transfer of high school assistants on request. They had reiterated this stand in a case which  came up at the High Court earlier.

The government was also taking a stand that if the NCTE norms were  implemented, the present teachers would have to be retrenched. Another reason attributed by the government was that of financial commitment. They also argue that the workload of TTI teachers are less compared to that of HSAs.

The existing teacher-student ratio in TTIs is 1:20 and that fixed as per NCTE norms is 1:12. The teacher-student ratio in high schools is 1:45, the General Education Department had apprised the court in an affidavit filed in 2009.
Source : Express Buzz