The Bombay High Court today rapped the Maharashtra government for not taking subjects like crafts and drawing seriously and directed the state to find out why trained teachers are not appointed to teach these subjects.
A division bench of Justices S C Dharmadhikari and Revati Dere was hearing a petition filed by some teachers who have obtained training in crafts, drawing and arts from the Vocational Board of Maharashtra.
The petitioners' advocate P B Deo told the court that as per two government resolutions dated December 18, 2003 and June 12, 2009, only trained teachers have to be appointed to teach these subjects.
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"There are around 1,75,000 trained teachers in Maharashtra as on date but none of them are employed. Schools are making teachers of other subjects teach craft and drawing. Crafts and Work Experience forms part of the syllabus for students from standard fifth to eight," Deo said.
The bench, after hearing the arguments, sought to know from the state government as to why trained teachers are not appointed when the government resolutions say so and when teachers are available.
"Why are these subjects not taught seriously? During these periods of 30 minutes you want children to while away their time. What about those children who are interested in crafts and drawing?" the court said.
The court also asked as to why these subjects were not included in the syllabus of standard 1 to 4.
"How can such a curriculum be framed? So what if at that age the child might just be spoiling the paper by scribbling on it but it's all about encouragement," the court said.
The bench has directed the secretary of state Ministry of School Education to look into the matter, collect data from all schools across the state and take a decision within three months.u00a0
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