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Only male teachers above 50 years may teach in Haryana girl’s schools now.
The rule states that the public and government girl’s schools will now not have any male teachers under 50 years. Even teachers applying for transfer are advised not to apply to girls schools if they are under the age limit.
Many laws have been passed recently by the Haryana government to address key issues; the latest in line has been a critical issue plaguing the state –women safety. Tragically, Haryana is right at the top of states reporting sexual crimes against girls and women. That the archaic laws of the Khap panchayat govern the interior region is no respite either.
However, there is a very thin line between being overzealous and bizarre. It seems that the line is blurred for the Haryana education committee which believes that their latest initiative will help protect the younger school going girls from sexual assault to a certain extent.
The rule states that the public and government girl’s schools will now not have any male teachers under 50 years. The male candidates will be given a job in a government school only if they are over the age mark. Also, the teachers applying for transfer are advised to not apply to girls schools if they are under the age limit as their application will not be considered at all! The new policy applies even to many private schools in the state.
According to a statement made by Haryana’s education minister Ram Bilas Sharma, “Any teacher who has not completed 50 years as on June 30, should not opt for girls’ school. Even if any teacher opts for it, he would not be considered for transfer.” Neelam Bhandari, the district education officer added, “This policy has been in effect for a very long time. The recent policy change has only highlighted it and brought it to the forefront of the public eye. The vision of this policy was to improve the distribution of teachers across the state. This measure was taken to protect the interests of the students.”
Expectedly, the teachers from both, public and private schools are up in arms against the move. Many believe that this move may propagate the wrong notion in girls that young men absolutely cannot be trusted and the younger generation has no morals. Conversely, it will elevate elders in the minds of the girls which may prove to be detrimental as age doesn’t stop a person with evil intentions. There’s actually no way to guarantee that male teachers over the age of 50 will ensure the safety of the girls.
In fact, the Indian education is headed in the other direction by hiring younger, newer staff as they believe that the youngsters need newer, better ideas. At such a time, hiring aged teachers will only increase the disconnect between the teachers and the students. A poor teacher-student relation may also make them lose interest and find studying boring besides making them wary of wanting to approach teachers who are much too old.
According to Dhirendra Bajaj, a Gurgaon private school teacher, “I think this rule is quite absurd if you consider the pillars it’s founded on. It implies that all younger male teachers lack that basic moral foundation that makes them dangerous and severely unfit for this position. It also posits that all older teachers have attained a moral capacity that makes them immune to such vile inclinations.”
Image Courtesy: indiatimes.com