Ludhiana, September 2
Hundred odd students of primary classes of Government Primary and Middle School, Khud Mohalla, here were let off half an hour early today morning as the one and the only teacher teaching the five classes had to attend a farewell party of her colleague.
Sounds strange but true! This single teacher has been teaching the 100 students for the past many years. The District Education Department which seems to have been sleeping, has not bothered to provide more teachers to the school.
Another factor that is enough for one to ‘‘marvel’’ at the worthy education system of our country is the fact that there are seven teachers and a Head Mistress for 36 students of the middle and high school housed in the same building.
One can easily understand the standard of education being provided to 100 students who are being taught by single teacher for the past many years. Why cannot the department do a rethinking and remove the anomaly.
Teachers of the school said that their directorates were different. One of them said,” Earlier it was a middle school only. Recently it has been upgraded to a high school.” Though at the entrance of the building the dilapidated letters written still read ‘ Govt Primary and High School ‘in Punjabi.
A part of school is housed in a part of building made during the British Times and has been declared unsafe. While the Head Mistress was not available in the school, some teachers on the condition of anonymity, said that they had written a number of letters to PWD to demolish the unsafe portion of the building but no one had responded as yet. They, however said that the classes were being held in the newly constructed building.
Those rooms also appeared dingy. “Each of us have 35 to 36 periods. We do feel sympathetic towards the primary school teacher, and we do chip in whenever we can. Actually our directorates are different. The DEO of primary section is different from our DEO. The primary teacher writes to the DEO every month of her plight, but nothing has materialised. The worst is yet to come as she would be retiring next month and then nobody knows who would teach the students,” said the teachers.
One can imagine the chaotic conditions with one teacher handling five classes. The others said that she did her best, but no one knew how much the students get to learn. If that was not enough, there is just one handpump in the courtyard which quenches the thirst of the entire school. A thick layer of green moss has formed on the wall. There is no skirting or border made on the floor to protect the person drinking water from the pump. Invariably one gets wet. The two narrow toilets are sans doors.
The teachers and students find it embarrassing to use the toilets. While one girl needs to use it, the other girl stands guard outside to maintain some privacy. Same goes for the teachers.
