The current administrative system in government and aided schools in Kerala is all set to change once the merger of primary, secondary, and higher secondary sections is completed in the coming years.
This follows the recommendations of the M.A. Khader committee on reforms in school education. The draft special rules prepared for the merger by a core committee of experts say that school education offices (SEO) will replace the offices of assistant educational officers (AEO) and district educational officers (DEO). The offices of seven regional deputy directors and as many offices of assistant directors too will go.
At the State level, there will now be four Assistant Directors of General Education under the Director of General Education. At the district level, there will be Joint Directors of General Education supported by School Education Officers, Assistant School Education Officers and Panchayat School Education Officers.
Right now, Class I to VII (primary section) are under AEOs. But, if the primary classes are part of a school which also has secondary and higher secondary sections, they are under a DEO. Also, only lower primary (Class I to IV) and upper primary (Class V toVII) schools are under the jurisdiction of grama panchayats. If the primary classes are part of a school which also has secondary and higher secondary sections, they are under the district panchayat.
The expert panel points out that this complicated structure is coming in the way of proper academic monitoring and system monitoring of the schools. All students in the primary sections in a grama panchayat are not collectively considered while devising plans for academic improvement and implementing various projects.
Also, there is a disparity in the number of schools under AEOs and DEOs. There are a total of 163 AEO offices and 41 DEO offices. The number of schools under the AEO, Kozhuvanal, Kottayam, is 31 while there are 138 schools under the AEO, Mannarkkad, Palakkad.
The Khader panel has suggested forming SEOs within the limits of municipalities and block panchayats. The core committee points out that the distribution of schools is unequal using that yardstick too.
There are 25 schools in the Palluruthi block in Ernakulam, but the one in Manjeswaram has 152 schools.
While there are only seven schools in the Maradu Municipality in Ernakulam, Thalassery Municipality in Kannur has 63 schools. According to the new recommendation, SEOs will have an almost equal number of schools under their jurisdictions. Instead of 204 AEO and DEO offices, there will be 220 SEOs across districts.
