Insurance cover for students, teachers

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore, MAY 25. The Government today provided accident insurance cover to 1.10 crore children up to Class X and teachers in schools in the State, thus becoming the first to have taken such a step.

The Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Mr. H.Vishwanath, who gave a cheque of Rs.69.64 lakhs as premium to Oriental Insurance Company, said the premium for each child and teacher was Re.1. Rotary International had come forward to pay the remaining one-third of the premium.

He told presspersons here that as per the policy, if there was an accidental death of a student or a teacher, the compensation would be Rs.25,000, for partial disability it was Rs.12,500 and for fractures Rs.1,000.

He said the Government had tried this on an experimental basis in eight districts and had found it to be useful. Last year, the insurance company had disbursed claims in 40 cases of death and 700 cases of fractures that had taken place.

SDMCs constituted: In another major decision, the Government has constituted School Development and Management Committees (SDMCs) not only to streamline the functioning of schools but to ensure community participation in the running of schools.

The SDMCs would be constituted at all government primary and high schools, he said and added that the general body of the SDMCs would comprise parents, and it would meet three times in an academic year to discuss the progress of a school. The general body would choose the members for the SDMC in which three seats each would be reserved for women, two for SC and ST and one for the minorities.

Besides these members, the ex-officio members would be members of the gram panchayat, anganwadi teacher of that village, health worker and a school headmaster. It would also have donors, two members from non-government organisations, an educationist, an office-bearer of a youth or women's organisation and a student from Class VII. Nominated members would not have voting power. One of the members would be elected as the president, and the school headmaster would be the secretary-cum- treasurer.

Mr. Vishwanath said that the SDMCs would monitor the functioning of schools and attendance of teachers, sanction casual leave to headmasters of the lower primary, higher primary and high schools, declare four holidays according to the local needs; dispose of unused articles worth Rs.2,000, Rs.5,000 and Rs.10,000 from lower primary, higher primary and high schools, respectively, organise cultural activities; auction crops grown on school land, and purchase articles for schools.

He said one of the main tasks before the SDMCs would be to enroll children into schools, and creating awareness among parents on the importance of education. Importantly, they would have to devise methods to improve the quality of education.

Lapses

He said that the matter of irregularities in SSLC examination had been referred to the Corps of Detectives. The Government, he added, was making efforts to streamline the examination system and mentioned the use of video cameras in examination halls, photo identity cards etc.

On valuation, he said five joint valuers had been fined Rs.5,000 each and kept under suspension; 17 assistant examiners had been penalised Rs.1,000 each and 1,838 had been fined Rs.100 each for negligent valuation. He said there was need to train valuers.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Murder most foul
Next     : Chairpersons soon for academies