Maharashtra government mulling mechanism to improve quality of education

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Government is considering a multi-tier mechanism to improve the quality of education, the Legislative Council was informed here today.

It will deal with appointment and training of teachers, upgradation of infrastructure and accreditation of the schools, Minister of State for School Education Fauziya Khan said.

The department has also decided to chalk out a plan to deal with the uneven distribution of the teachers, the minister said.

"We are planning for four academic training centres in four regions in the first phase to offer training to all the stakeholders in the education sector.

"Not only teachers, but non-teaching staff, school management committee and education officials will be given the training. This would help us in improving the quality of education on primary and secondary level," she said.

Khan also said her department was thinking of setting up 'virtual classrooms' for the training of teachers.

Uneven distribution of the teachers in the primary and secondary schools is another issue that needs to be addressed, she said.

"Though the Right To Education Act expects the student-teacher ratio to be 30:1, the ratio in Maharashtra is 25:1. However the teachers' appointment is uneven and we are planning to remove this uneven allotment of the teachers," Khan said.