Pune, Oct 13 The ruling Mahayuti alliance’s candidate for the Pune division teachers’ constituency of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, Kaustubh Gawade, on Tuesday said he would work to reduce teachers’ non-teaching workload.
In a three-corner contest, Gawade is pitted against sitting MLC and Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate Jayant Asgaonkar and independent candidate Sachin Sanap, an Officer-on Special Duty to state minister Uday Samant.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is scheduled to tour western Maharashtra on Wednesday to campaign for the Mahayuti candidates. Dr Smita Yogesh Jadhav is the BJP-Mahayuti candidate for the graduate constituency. The election will be held on October 23.
“Teachers’ valuable time should be used for students’ educational progress instead of being spent on unnecessary paperwork and repetitive administrative tasks,” Gawade said.
He would pursue the issue with the state government, he added.
Gawade called for a mechanism to study teachers’ workload and recommend measures to reduce it on the lines of the UK’s Teacher Workload Reduction Taskforce.
He also advocated providing schools with dedicated administrative staff and support systems on the lines of Singapore’s school administrative assistance model.
According to the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2024, an average of 52 per cent of teachers identified administrative work as a source of work-related stress, he said.
Gawade said he would press for a separate government resolution on reducing non-teaching duties.
Meanwhile, state BJP president Ravindra Chavan, minister Chandrakant Patil and state BJP general secretary Rajesh Pande have held core committee meetings to review election preparedness.
The BJP has also appointed constituency in-charges in parts of western Maharashtra.
Chavan said party workers and office-bearers were being asked to effectively communicate to teachers and graduate voters the Mahayuti government’s commitment to taking Maharashtra’s education sector to greater heights.
(PTI News)
