As many as 180 government school teachers in Karnataka's Chikkaballapur district have been issued show-cause notices after Class 7 students were found struggling with basic mathematics and Kannada alphabets.
The action followed surprise inspections conducted by Chikkaballapur MLA Pradeep Eshwar at several government primary schools in the constituency. During the inspections, some Class 7 students were reportedly unable to solve simple addition and subtraction problems and write basic Kannada alphabets.
According to a show-cause notice issued by the Office of the Block Education Officer, Chikkaballapura, on September 15, the academic progress of Class 7 students was reviewed after the MLA wrote to the authorities on September 4.
Following the MLA's direction, Education Coordinators, Block Resource Persons (BRPs) and Cluster Resource Persons (CRPs) conducted tests for Class 7 students in government and aided primary schools across Chikkaballapura Taluk.
The assessment identified students who were "severely lagging behind in learning", following which a list of the students and the teachers who had taught them was submitted to the education department.
The notice states that teachers were being asked to explain why students had failed to achieve the minimum expected learning levels. It also directs that disciplinary action be taken as per rules after considering the teachers' explanations.
The department further noted that several schemes had been implemented to improve students' learning outcomes. It said failure to provide the required education within the stipulated time could leave students behind academically and undermine the objectives of such government programmes.