Teachers of govt schools in Karnal hire sweepers, pay from own pocket

Parveen Arora

Karnal, August 4

With no recruitment of cleaning staff in the past several years, a majority of government schools in the district are grappling with the shortage of sweepers. Teachers have no choice but to hire sweepers and pay from their own pockets.

A data of the Education Department shows that around 48 per cent posts of sweepers are lying vacant in different schools. Against the sanctioned posts of 668 sweepers in the middle, high and secondary schools and District Education Office (DEO), 349 seats have been filled, while remaining 319 are lying vacant.The schools have piles of garbage mounting on or near the premises.

The officials said no recruitment of the sweepers was conducted after 1998 in the department, due to which the shortage of sweepers gradually increased.

When the TNS reporter conducted a survey, it was found that the majority of schools have arranged for sweepers and pay from their own pockets. Only in primary schools, a budget of Rs 8,000 per worker/ per month has been made and that too it began from this month. While in other schools comprising senior secondary, high and middle, there is no provision of budget for sweepers.

“Our sweeper retired nearly six month ago, and no sweeper was given to us by the department despite several requests, so we arranged one from the village. Which we pay the sweeper from our own pocket,” said a teacher of the Nilokheri block.

One teacher from Indri block said no recruitment was made for the past several years, due to which schools had been facing a lot of problems. The Prime Minister asks people to maintain cleanliness, but schools are neglected in this mission as nobody gives attention to recruit new sanitation workers.

Deepak Goswami, former general secretary of the Rajkiya Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, Haryana, demanded that the government should appoint sweepers in the schools. In some schools, part-time sweepers have been arranged by the staff members, but it is not a solution.

Raj Pal, DEO, said they had sent the request to the higher authorities to fill all vacant posts of sweepers. They are hopeful that all vacant posts will be filled soon.

Rohtash Verma, District Elementary Education Officer (DEEO), said earlier, there was no provision of budget for sweepers in primary schools, but from this month, a provision of Rs 8,000 has been made in the budget. “We have received the budget and sent to the BEOs for disbursement,” said the DEEO.