TEC public hearing evokes wide range of responses 

Telangana Education Commission chairperson Akunuri Murali and members along with Hyderabad District Collector Anudeep Durishetty at the public hearing on school education in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR

The Telangana Education Commission’s public hearing on the school education system for Hyderabad district evoked wide range and straightforward reactions from students and teachers on Tuesday.

Chaired by TEC chairman Akunuri Murali and members P.L. Vishweswar Rao, Charakonda Venkatesh and K. Jyotsna Shiva Reddy, the meet was attended by District Collector Anudeep Durishetty, District Educational Officer R. Rohini and a packed hall of teachers and students.

The hearing aimed at recording the ground issues faced by students in schools and teachers in achieving teaching goals and the related challenges. The TEC which initiated the public hearings soon after its institution in September 2024, has been touring the various districts and it proposes to submit the ground report on the state of education in all levels in the State to the government for action.

According to teachers present at the hearing, the government must appoint separate staff to supervise mid-day meal programme, as teachers become easy targets for disciplinary action if food quality is not ensured.

For a teacher, combined marks of physical and biological science under Science does not do justice to the individual subject as students prefer to do well only in one. For classes VI to X, textbooks suggest experimental learning but conducting experiments is not possible in government schools, she said.

Absenteeism is a major setback to ensuring quality of education, the teachers said, and no-detention policy needs to be reviewed. Teachers also complained that content quality produced by SCERT is not clear, is without proper link and flow, as compared to CBSE textbooks.

Several students who enthusiastically got up to speak to the TEC, said, “We have Physical Education Teacher, but no playground; We have computer marks but no computers; our uniforms come either short or long; schoolbags are heavy.”

A student shared his experience of blue-inked rice and a dead housefly in his mid-day meal on two separate occasions in a week.

According to a representative from Teach for India NGO, drug abuse in schools, although less talked about, is one of the major concerns in schools. Absenteeism and issues of child safety and abuse are other aspects that need attention.