Teachers who were awarded on the occasion of Teachers’ Day had an interaction with Chief Minister Vijay Rupani during his monthly ‘Mokla Mane’ (with an open mind) event at his official residence in Gandhinagar, and spoke about various issues ranging from how they should be relieved of ‘extra jobs’ and allowed more freedom at work, and why the burgeoning of private schools must be curbed, apart from discussing the health issues of students and infrastructure issues at government schools. They even expressed fears about ‘over-engagement’ with technology.
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Rupani told the teachers that the motive of the government was to make its state-run schools more attractive and not to place curbs on private schools, and that technology was needed to enable accountability in the system. One teacher from Amreli, Ravjibhai Kacha, said, “It would be good if every teacher is allowed to engage in only teaching and no other job”, to which Rupani said that a school should not be only about curriculum. Addressing the complaint about extra jobs, he explained that election duty was assigned by the Election Commission and was beyond the state government’s control, and that the government hosted only about four events engaging teachers. But he said he would address the issue and ‘try not to engage teachers in unnecessary tasks”.