3 teachers for 176 pupils at Indora govt school, none for classes XI, XII

Nurpur, August 29

A lot of resentment has been brewing among residents of the six villages of Paral, Malkana and Jatt-Belian gram panchayats in the Mand area of the Indora Assembly constituency over the state government’s failure to post a teacher or lecturer for classes XI and XII at the Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS), Paral.

Despite the state government’s tall claims over bringing qualitative changes in the education system, only three trained graduate teachers (TGTs) have been posted to teach the 176 students enrolled in the school.

As per information, this GSSS was upgraded from a high school in 2015, and students’ strength was around 500 at the time.

However, the number of students in the school has been declining with each passing year.

“The state government is trying to improve enrolment rate in government schools. Why would parents enrol their wards in a school where the government could not fill vacant posts of teachers?” said a parent, who shifted his ward from the Paral school to another one this academic session.

Inquiries revealed that the government school had been facing teaching-staff scarcity for several years.

The Inspection Cell of the Education Department has not conducted inspection of the school for the past two years.

School Management Committee president Radha Rani said the post of English lecturer in the school had been lying vacant since January 2022, Hindi since April 2015, history since December 2020, Sanskrit since April 2022, and IP from April 2015

“Since March, the TGT (maths) is on a two-year study leave. The post of TGT (arts) has been vacant since February. The physical education teacher’s post has been vacant since December 2017. The school has been without a principal for the past six months,” she added.

She said the SMC had submitted a public representation to the state and district Higher Education authorities, and even to CM helpline number last year, to no avail.

Paral gram panchayat chairperson Kanta Devi said she had brought this issue to the notice of local MLA Malinder Rajan, who had succeeded in issuing posting orders for some posts. However, the teachers avoided joining the school by using their “political links”, with no teacher joining the school this year.

She appealed to the Chief Minister to intervene in the matter and address the issue so that the parents of students of the school are not forced to shift them to private schools.

An official of the state Education Department admitted that the regular reports of vacant posts in government schools were being submitted to the state authorities. However, it was the government’s duty to ensure the joining of teachers whose posting orders were issued by the department, the official noted.

Without principal for 6 months

• School Management Committee president Radha Rani said the post of English lecturer in the school had been lying vacant since January 2022, Hindi since April 2015, history since December 2020, Sanskrit since April 2022, and IP from April 2015
• Since March, the TGT (maths) is on a two-year study leave. The post of TGT (arts) has been vacant since February. The physical education teacher’s post has been vacant since December 2017. The school has been without a principal for the past six months