Bengaluru: Amidst the walkout by Janata Dal (S) and BJP members, the Karnataka state education (amendment) bill was passed in the Legislative Council on Friday.
It may be mentioned here that a committee consisting of eight members from the opposition parties was constituted in the previous session after they took a dig at the government for amending the Act, which would punish teachers for boycotting valuation as well as for question paper leaks. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had given the committee a month’s time to give their report to the education department, which would then be examined before the bill was presented in the Upper House.
When the bill came up for ratification, two JD(S) members- K.T. Srikantegowda and Mr Puttanna contended that they would oppose the bill and for this reason, they had not appended their signatures to the proceedings of the two meetings. They claimed that they were opposed to the jail term and heavy penalty for teachers, three year bar for students who were caught while copying, jail term and penalty for those who instigate teachers, and derecognition of educational institutions where the question paper leak happens. These were draconian steps and it would affect the morale of the teaching community, they claimed.
Primary and secondary education minister Tanveer Sait while defending the bill, said such an action was required in the wake of students suffering due to leakage of question papers during the second year PU exam. The punishment was for those who indulge in malpractices and other teachers need not worry about it. Besides six of the eight panel members had agreed to the action to safeguard interests of students, he said.
Chief whip of BJP Captain Ganesh Karnik and Ramachandra Gowda said severe punishment would create fear psychosis among teachers performing exam duty. The government must continue with the existing rules, they said.
Will not allow Ahinda or saffron thoughts in textbooks: Tanveer Sait
Primary and secondary education minister Tanveer Sait has made it clear that the government will not allow 'saffronization' or insert 'AHINDA' ideology in school textbooks which are in the process of revision.
Replying to a question by BJP members, Mr Sait said several textbooks have been sent for printing. The testbook revision committee is revising the textbooks of class 1 to 10 as per the norms of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). Government has no intention to insert any ideology while revising the books, he clarified.
The minister said the revision of textbooks of 9th to 10 standard are yet to be done because mathematics, science and social science textbooks of these classes are yet to be revised, Once revision is completed, these textbooks will be sent for printing, Mr Sait explained.
"Now, the textbook CD containing 294 lessons has been sent for printing, remaining 103 lessons will be sent for printing soon. The department has not take up the work of revision of PUC textbooks, we have adopted the existing textbooks in the curriculum", the minister stated. However BJP member Arun Shahpura contended that, before replying to the NCERT letter dated February 6, 2017, the education department had taken a decision to revise the textbooks. Government has replied to the NCERT on February 10, 2017, but it has taken a decision to print the textbooks in anuary, Mr Shahapura said.
