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Government schools in Ludhiana suffering from dearth of Class IV staff
The Government Multipurpose School Ludhiana, which has over 4,500 students, has only one employee against the sanctioned strength of 12. A teacher at the school said there is also no Class IV staff to clean washrooms which affects hygiene conditions at the government schools
Already facing shortage of teachers and lecturers, the acute crunch of Class IV employees at government schools across the district is taking a toll on the effective functioning of schools. In various schools with strengths varying between 2,000 and 4,000 students, just one or two Class IV employees look after cleanliness and other works.
There are only around 350 Class IV employees in all 553 middle, high and senior secondary government schools in Ludhiana.
In the absence of dedicated employees such as sweeper, watchman, caretaker, helper etc, the school management committees are forced to utilise parent-teachers association funds and school management committees’ funds to pay employees hired by them on a temporary basis.
‘Posts lying vacant, sanctioned strength also not increased’
Teachers said while over 90 per cent of the sanctioned posts are lying vacant, the sanctioned strength has also not been increased, despite the hike in the number of students at government schools after the pandemic.
As for Government Senior Secondary Smart School Mundian, the strength of students has increased from around 1,500 in 2019 to 2,550 in 2022, but the posts for Class IV employees have not been increased which is a minimal three. A teacher, requesting anonymity, said, as the school runs in double-shift, it is very hard for a lone sweeper to maintain cleanliness at the school.
The Government Multipurpose School Ludhiana, which has over 4,500 students, has only one employee against the sanctioned strength of 12. A teacher at the school said there is also no staff to clean washrooms which affects hygiene conditions at the government schools.
A district education department official said, “Schools with less student strength do have staffers as employees prefer these schools as they have less workload, while schools where employees are required, the posts are lying vacant.”
No provision for Class IV employees in primary schools
Besides, in 993 government primary schools across the district, there is no provision for Class IV employees. A teacher at Government Primary School Jassian said, “As the pre-primary classes, including UKG, LKG, have been initiated at schools, caretakers are required to take the children to the washroom, but due to lack of staff, teachers are performing these duties.”
“The primary schools are no longer like they used to be in the past, now as the schools have been equipped with computers, and projectors there is a need for watchmen at primary schools,” she added.
Several government primary schools have hired sweepers, helpers and watchmen to perform the routine tasks and are spending out of the school funds amid lack of funds for the same.
In September this year, a budget of ₹123 crore was sanctioned by the state government to hire security guards, sanitation and cleanliness staff and watchmen at government schools. The minister had said that the schools’ management committees would be issued a monthly fund to hire sweepers, also campus managers at a salary of ₹25,000 a month would be hired at every senior secondary school in the state.
An official said the education department had recently conducted a survey, asking schools to submit data regarding the requirements and available strength of Class IV employees.
District education officer(secondary) Harjit Singh said, “It is in the knowledge of the education department that a number of posts of Class IV employees are vacant, the department transferred several employees last week, hopefully, the vacant posts will be filled.”
