With parents of students giving marks to teachers, incompetent teachers in schools run by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) may soon be weeded out.

The PMC move of grading teachers seems to be working, with teachers improving their teaching skills.

But there are also some teachers who are quitting, perhaps sensing the actual blow that may come soon from the scheme.

The PMC had taken the initiative to give performance-based salary to teachers. The judgement was to be made by the parents of students. Now, even before the actual action begins, a few of the teachers whom parents are believed to have given low scores, have offered to apply for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) fearing action.

“We have constituted a committee, mostly of parents, for each of the 270 civic schools. Assessment of teachers is yet to begin, but the initiative itself has improved quality of education with teachers becoming more alert,” Municipal Commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi said.

According to PMC Education Officer Sudhakar M Tambe, even before the committee starts its work, a few of the teachers likely to fall in the "incompetent" category have offered to apply for VRS. The committee is headed by local corporator and have a doctor and engineer along with parents on board. “It has been observed that the teachers have become alert and improved teaching skills,” he said.

The PMC has also framed certain guidelines for teachers, Tambe said adding that no teacher would be given more than one casual leave per month. Those willing to take leave upto one month will have to inform the education board in advance, he said. A list of retired teachers of civic schools have been prepared and would be appointed for a month to replace teachers going on long leave, Tambe said.

The PMC School Board has also set up a parallel machinery for assessing performance of teachers and had carried out a detailed study on it.

For involving public participation in providing quality education, Tambe said the PMC would soon be signing an MoU with city-based NGO Teach for India, and Deepak Fertilisers Ltd next week.

In the two-year contract, Teach for India would provide 50 teaching volunteers to the PMC for imparting education initially in English medium schools run by the civic body while Deepak Fertilisers Ltd on pilot basis would adopt 44 balwadi’s in Yerawada and Mundwa, Pardeshi said.