Teachers irked with adult literacy prog inspection plan

ULLAS scheme has increased their non-educational work, rendered students unsafe, say teachers

- Niraj Pandit

MUMBAI: Teachers of government and state-aided schools in Maharashtra are up in arms over the state education department's decision to carry out physical inspection of adult literacy classes running under the ULLAS (Understanding of Lifelong Learning for All in Society) Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram or New India Literacy Programme. The inspection, they say, will increase their burden of non-educational responsibilities such as enrolling and evaluating learners and uploading the data on the ULLAS app, leaving little time for teaching; it will also compromise the safety of students, who are enrolled as volunteer teachers under the scheme.

Officials in the education department, however, insist that the inspection will push schools which are lagging in implementation to step up and start adult literacy classes.