Education AAP government's 'top priority', but where are the teachers?
In what is coming in the way of quality education, is the acute staff crunch at government senior secondary schools (GSSS) across the state. It is no wonder then that thousands of students are performing rather poorly in board examinations.
Data with The Tribune contradicts the claims of the state government that it is making all-out efforts to improve the quality of education. There are 7,000 vacancies of lecturers in senior secondary schools. Of these, Ludhiana district alone accounts for 400.
The Education Department has resorted to stop-gap arrangements in many schools, but clearly, these are not enough. Year after year, the board exam results speak for themselves. Students continue to suffer in the absence of subject experts, lagging behind their counterparts in private schools.
The government has failed to appoint permanent teachers for critical subjects like maths, social science and English. 'In government schools, for instance, there is a deficit of commerce lecturers. Until 2023, there was a vacancy of 20 commerce lecturers at Government Senior Secondary School Multipurpose in Ludhiana city, which has a strength of over 4,000 students. Naturally, students are reluctant to choose the commerce stream,” said a teacher at GSSS, Jawahar Nagar Camp.
Flagging the gravity of the issue, Tehel Singh, press secretary of the Government School Teachers Union, said: "About 7,000 vacancies exist in senior secondary schools. Only recently — after eight years — the department promoted teachers, and we are hopeful that at least 2,000 posts will be filled. However, it is too little. The remaining gap needs to be filled on priority if the government is serious about providing quality education.”
From the start, the AAP government has maintained that education and health are primary concerns. It also introduced Schools of Eminence and Schools of Happiness, but teachers pointedly state that in the absence of adequate staff, these will remain only notional objectives.
