Lucknow, (IANS) Fifteen teachers of government-run primary schools in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur district will face action for “not being able to perform simple arithmetic calculations”, officials said Wednesday.

The education department Wednesday recommended that the teachers should not be given a pay hike and also proposed a cut in their salary.

“The teachers who could not answer simple arithmetic questions have been caught in the last two days during our ongoing inspection to assess teaching in various schools,” Rakesh Kumar, an official in-charge of primary education in Kanpur, told IANS.

“It was surprising and shocking to me. If teachers cannot answer simple questions, how can we expect the students to perform?” Kumar said.

According to officials, simple questions based on multiplication were given to the teachers, who either expressed their inability to solve the problem or gave a wrong answer.

There were several teachers, who when asked were not able to recite the 10 and 20 times table, officials added.

Kanpur is about 80 km from Lucknow.

-- IANS