Pune: The state education commissioner has made school visit compulsory for all education officers, after only 11,532 institutions out of over one lakh were inspected last year.Education commissioner Sachindra Pratap Singh issued a circular earlier this week, giving officers a checklist of parameters to be inspected. It directed the officers to upload the inspection report on the Saral portal. Calling last year’s visit count abysmal, Singh gave minimum targets to the officials.The state-level officers are expected to visit two schools every fortnight and the cluster head at least five schools per week. The circular mentioned that visits during exams, competitions or other special occasions would not count as inspections.School inspections were always a mandate, but it wasn’t clearly defined as to how many schools or what all must be checked. Sharad Gosavi, primary education director of the state, said, “This gives a clear guideline, a measurable target and the aspects which must be compulsorily checked. Here we are trying to concentrate more on the academic part rather than the infrastructural part, though that too is covered. This helps teachers be on their toes and makes officers more responsible about the schools under their jurisdiction. Getting data about a school on the computer and actually visiting a school, interacting with students and understanding their problems are entirely different things. The idea is to help the children flourish academically.”About the concern among teachers regarding school inspections after some education officers previously demanded VIP treatment during their visits, Gosavi said the inspection was not a tool for punishment but a way to get positive feedback so that the education department can decide the correct steps to be taken to improve the quality of education imparted in the a school.Officers have to check school premises, sanitation, attendance of teachers and students, and learning outcomes, among other aspects, during the inspection of institutions.
