Officers Of State's General Education Dept Not Aware Of Relevant Laws, Unprecedented Increase In Litigation: Kerala HC Mulls Expert Committee

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday suggested the General Education Department of the State to constitute an expert committee to address issues plaguing its internal functioning such as recruitment, database management, etc. It noted apparent absence of accurate data on students, instructors, and non-teaching personnel in the State's Government and Aided Schools, eventually leading to increased disputes and consequential litigation.It suggested the Department to form a committee comprising former DGEs with experience, experts from State Government initiatives such as KITE (Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education), Digital University Kerala, Indian Institution of Information Technology and Management-Kerala and legal professionals with practical knowledge. Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. was of the view that a substantial amount of litigation can be avoided if the department implements some improvements by leveraging the power of information and communication technology. It said,...I cannot help but notice that litigation challenging orders issued by the General Education Department have reached unprecedented levels...Even at the highest levels, officers are either unprepared or uninformed of the relevant Rules and the law interpreted by this Court based on the provisions of the law...Having sat in this Court for well over six months, I believe that if the Department implements some improvements by leveraging the power of information and communication technology, a substantial amount of litigation can be avoided.The present case was instituted by a teacher over dispute with respect to approval of her appointment, where the order issued by the government was found to be against the law settled by the Court and previous Government Orders. The Court opined that the officials must be directed to adhere to the applicable rules and Government orders when considering statutory petitions and implementing their action in terms of the requirements of the Act.In addition, the officials must be told unequivocally that they are obligated to guarantee strict conformity with the applicable Rules and Government Orders when considering statutory petitions and implementing their action in terms of the requirements of the Act.Even though the Government of Kerala has established KITE to develop, promote and implement the modernization of State-owned or Government-aided educational institutions in Kerala and which is being retained to carry out staff fixation at Government/ Aided Schools in the State and to approve the hiring of teachers and that a portal called 'SAMANWAYA' has been established to facilitate this, the Court observed that the portals are not integrated seamlessly, and no steps have been taken to share data from other departments. If the data exchange between various Universities in the State and outside the State, other educational institutions, and certifying authorities, etc. is achieved, it would be a clean, efficient and transparent task to determine the qualifications of Teachers and Non-teaching staff without using paper documents, saving time and money and ensuring transparency, Justice Vijayaraghavan opined. The Court further pointed out instances where intervention is required expeditiously, opining that if proper measures are taken, it would ease the way in which the Department functions:Database of StudentsCreation of a failsafe database of all children pursuing education in the State, including those attending Government, Aided, Recognized, Unaided, and Private schools, and link them to the schools at which they are enrolled. Further directing the department to evaluate if biometric or other attendance systems can be implemented in schools for students and teachers and whether the same can be linked with the portal maintained by the Department of Education.Database of TeachersThe Court directed the State to refine and update the database of all teachers to whom the provisions of the Kerala Education Act and the Rules apply, including the date of their entry into service, their qualifications, and any other information that may provide those teachers with advantage under the Act and the Rules. Furthermore, the database of teachers, the Staff Fixation Orders, the Seniority List, and Fitness Certificates of School buildings are to be compulsorily linked to the portal maintained by the Department of Education, and separate dashboards have to be provided to all the stakeholders. Online depository of Certificates, Diplomas etc.As envisioned by the National Academic Depository (NAD), the Court directed that there should be an online repository of all academic awards, such as certificates, diplomas, degrees, mark sheets, etc., duly digitized and deposited by academic institutions/boards/eligibility assessment bodies, etc., so that there is no controversy regarding the acquisition of their qualifications. The Court observed that by establishing an error-free and accurate database for individual...

Officers Of State's General Education Dept Not Aware Of Relevant Laws, Unprecedented Increase In Litigation: Kerala HC Mulls Expert Committee

Athira Prasad

Tags