Kapurthala govt primary schools grapple with shortage of teachers

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, November 2

Students at six government primary schools in Kapurthala district are facing significant challenges due to shortage of teachers.

Strength of pupils

There are 55 students in Government Primary School, Gore, 34 in Banwala, 37 in Madho Jhanda, 74 in Jhal Thikriwala, 25 in Budo Punder and 43 in Jhugian Gulam.

Despite having decent enrolments in villages, there is only one teacher each at Gore, Banwala, Madho Jhanda, Jhal Thikriwala, Budo Punder and Jhugian Gulam schools for Classes I to V. This lone teacher not only handles teaching duties but also manages other responsibilities such as coordination for mid-day meal and clerical work.

There are 55 students in Government Primary School, Gore, 34 in Banwala, 37 in Madho Jhanda, 74 in Jhal Thikriwala, 25 in Budo Punder and 43 in Jhugian Gulam. However, a single teacher is tasked with taking all these classes, often resulting in merging of classes to assign collective work. This practice, however, adversely impacts students’ ability to focus and hampers their studies, claim parents.

A few parents revealed that they had learned from village panchayats that teachers leverage political influence or personal connections to secure placements at their preferred schools. The Education Department has failed to address this issue of uneven distribution of teaching staff.

They said Government Primary School, Lal Kothi, in Kapurthala, had 165 students. There are seven regular teachers and two teachers on deputation, while these six primary schools continue to suffer with a single teacher each.

Parents questioned how these schools can improve their educational outcomes without an adequate number of teachers.

“This discrepancy highlights a stark contradiction in the government’s claims of providing quality education and establishing Schools of Eminence, all while failing to address the issue of teacher distribution in its schools,” they said.

Meanwhile, Jagwinder Singh, District Education Officer (Primary), Kapurthala, said he had already instructed Block Primary Education Officers (BPEOs) to rectify this uneven distribution and deploy teachers where needed.