Former minister and senior Peoples Democratic Party leader Naeem Akther has urged the Governor’s administration to fully revive the winter tuition introduced in 2015.
In a statement Akhter expressed concern over the delay being done in providing the incentives assured to the teachers over conducting the winter classes. “It’s worrisome to know that teachers who earnestly taught in these centres have not been granted the incentives yet including the leave benefits,” Akther said.
He urged the Governor to issue orders in this regard and the period the teachers spent in the winter camps be recorded in their service books. Akhter said the winter tuition introduced by the PDP government was “revolutionary measure” in the field of education and was started through a widespread coaching network in schools, in particular to cater to need for tuition classes and personality development of the students in the remote and inaccessible places of the state and to do away with idling time of students, teachers and education apparatus as a whole.
He added that around 1000 boys and girls had joined “Super 50” coaching and more than 1 lakh students availed winter tuition classes and thousands of kids turned up for winter camps. “The initiatives proved to be a turning point in the state’s academic history and the concept of winter vacations became outdated practice,” Akther said.
“It provided a great opportunity and an alternative to costly coaching classes especially for the students from poor families who could not afford huge fee at private tuition centres,” Akhter said, adding that it was for the first time that hundreds of schools in the state were not only fully functional during winters, but were abuzz with academic and co-curricular activities.