The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has quashed the charge memo issued against seven polytechnic lecturers for low pass percentage.
Allowing a petition filed by the lecturers, Justice R Mahadevan said "teachers contribute not only academically but for producing quality students and they work for the entire society. However, this is possible only if the students also cooperated and showed interest in the studies."
If the teachers were harassed, they would feel discouraged which would prevent others from taking up the job, the Judge said and warned against harassing the teachers for poor per centage in exams.
Petitioners, including P Shaheen, working with the Institute of Road Transport in Tirunelveli, attributed the poor percentage of results to tough syllabus and also the students, who failed in the examinations, not attending special classes.
The Director of IRT had issued charge memo without considering their explanation, they said, contending he had no power to take such action.
The judge said "this court is of the firm view that the petitioners alone cannot be responsible for the poor pass per centage, as at the end of the day, it is only the students who write the examinations. Therefore, the basis for the charge sheet is misdirected and in fact the charges are vague".
He suggested that the Principal and the Director of the Institute convene a joint meeting of teachers, students and parents as and when necessary to ensure that teachers' hard work paid results.
