PERFORMANCE BONUS FOR TEACHERS
Following the World Bank report which found 25% of government primary school teachers in India absent themselves from work on any given working day, a question was raised in the Lok Sabha on giving performance bonus to government teachers and principals with a view of improving teacher attendance. Promotion of eLearning to remedy the shortage of efficient teachers was also discussed.
Smt. Smriti zubin Irani, Honourable Minister of Human Resource Development said the World Bank report gave the shocking news of twenty-five per cent of teachers in government primary schools remaining absent from work on any given day and only 50% of teachers present in schools, were actually engaging in teaching.
Irani said there is no scheme to give performance bonus to teachers and principals. She cited Section 24 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 which mandates teachers appointed under sub-section (1) of the Section 23 shall maintain regularity and punctuality in attending school and complete entire curriculum within specified time.
She listed the steps taken by the Central government to improve teachers’ attendance which included monitoring teachers’ attendance through School Management Committees/School Management Development Committees/Block Resource Centres/Clusters Resource Centres and by installing Biometric attendance system etc.
Regarding the promotion of eLearning, she said Under Computer Aided Learning (CAL) component of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), States/UTs have been supported financially to promote eLearning of Science and Mathematics at Upper Primary level.
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