Out of 59, 16 schools of Kot Fatuhi block sans teachers: RTI

A total of 59 government elementary smart schools were functioning in the Kot Fatuhi block of Hoshiarpur where 3,985 children were studying. Out of these 59 schools, 16 were running without teachers, while 19 were single-teacher schools. Not only this, the post of Block Primary Education Officer (BPEO) was vacant since 2019 and out of the seven posts of Centre Head Teachers, four were vacant — in Achharwal, Nadalon, Majari Dingrian and Behbalpur.

The president of Labour Party, Jai Gopal Dhiman, disclosed this on the basis of the information received under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from the officiating BPEO on September 9, 2024. He said there was a huge shortage of teachers in these schools. Out of the total 129 posts of ETT teachers, 92 posts were vacant and three schools in the Kot Fatuhi block, besides government elementary smart schools in Data, Pachanangal and Jhaj, were closed due to the lack of teachers. Also, out of the total 31 posts of head teachers, nine were vacant.

“There was neither a watchman nor a computer teacher in the schools. The government had boasted of starting pre-primary classes, but there were no lady helpers for the children or teachers to teach from nursery to UKG,” Dhiman said.

He added, “According to the rules of the Right to Education Act, 2009, one teacher should be there for 30 children, for 31 to 60 there should be two, three teachers for 61 to 90, four teachers for 91 to 120, for 121 to 200 there should be five teachers, six teachers for 201 to 240 students, seven for 241 to 280, eight teachers for 281 to 320, nine teachers for 321 to 360 and 10 teachers for 361 to 400 students. But the government was violating these rules.”

Dhiman said the AAP was playing with the future of children. The government was playing havoc with the future of the country, he added. Dhiman appealed to the people be aware of and to protect the rights of their children.