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Govt yet to take action against ‘shadow’ teachers in remote districts
In a latest incident, headmistress of a primary government school in Chamoli handed over the school charge to a 12th pass local, while she attended a programme in Karanprayag
Even as the state government is trying to strengthen the status and education system of government schools in Uttarakhand, the teachers are apparently not ready to cooperate.
In a latest, a headmistress of a primary government school in Chamoli handed over the school charge to a 12th pass local while she attended a programme in Karanprayag. The school has 13 children.
Engagement of shadow private persons as teachers in remote districts of Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Champawat and others isn’t new.
Sources in the school education department said over 25 such cases were reported in the past one decade where private people were conducting duties as government teachers were busy in their personal engagements.
RK Kunwar, director of school education, told Hindustan Times, “We generally suspend such teachers and attach them at headquarters.”
But, this action isn’t enough. Officers claimed during suspension, teachers get the benefit of half salary and continue to work either in state headquarter or with the district office-with fairly no work at all.
The punishment posting, apparently frees them with the responsibilities until enquiry report is handed to the government and appropriate action is taken.
“In most of the cases reported earlier, the teachers submitted plea of having gone to see a doctor or attending their sick kids or other personal emergencies owing to which their postings were changed but they were never terminated,” a senior officer said requesting anonymity.
While sudden raids in higher reaches is a real concern owing to remote locations of the schools, the education minister recently re-launched a portal to check absenteeism that will register day to day attendance of teachers.
Naresh Kumar Haldiyan, district education officer (DEO), Chamoli, who caught the headmistress red handed, said: “The portal may have been re-inaugurated but it hasn’t started working yet. The issue is- what if teachers won’t mark attendance on the portal?”
Under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the government started an initiative to report status of Mid Day Meal and attendance of students through short text message (SMS) but only 50% schools register their participation.
Lowest participation is of plain districts of Dehradun, Haridwar and US Nagar. Under such circumstances, expecting regular punching on portal would be quite a task.
There are over 17,000 government schools across state with over 8 lakh students enrolled.
