Utter Pradesh has now new category of Mafiosi. It is teachers-turned contractor Mafiosi. It is the result of faulty government policy of involving the teachers in school construction work.
While village pradhan-teacher nexus in this connection has created a piquant situation in educational institutions, the state government is yet to come out of any solution to the worsening problem.
The murder of Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Shravasti Vinod Kumar Verma by a teacher Ashok Dhar Dubey last week on the building construction issue has not only put the Education Department officers on warpath but has caused consternation among teachers also.The BSA had ordered probe in teacher’s bungling in construction work.
While launching large scale school building work the state government had given joint responsibility to village pradhan and head master or any other teacher of the school authorised by the BSA for the construction.
The policy provided an opportunity to teachers in league with Pradhan to corner hefty commission in the construction work. It had also led to tussle among the teachers to grab the opportunity. Now wherever the construction work is proposed the teachers are more interested in getting work than in teaching the students.
The fund is transferred to the bank account of village education committee. While authorising the pradhan to operate the bank account the state government had made provision of the involvement of head master/teacher in the construction work.
{{/usCountry}}The fund is transferred to the bank account of village education committee. While authorising the pradhan to operate the bank account the state government had made provision of the involvement of head master/teacher in the construction work.
{{/usCountry}}In fact the whole idea of involvement of teacher was to ensure quality construction and have control of the Education Department over the work through them. But the policy has totally failed. It has turned the teachers into contractor and now they have been deploying all the tactics of Mafiosi contractors in the state.
“The situation is alarming in schools”, leader of teachers’ group in Vidhan Parishad Om Prakash Sharma told Hindustan Times on Wednesday. He said since pradhan hardly had any accountability, they were always interested in getting their huge commission in the work.
Demanding that policy about the involvement of teachers in the construction work should be changed, Sharma said Rural Engineering Services (RES) or any other agency should be entrusted with the task. He said teachers should be kept away from the construction work.
Condemning the murder of the BSA in Shravasti, Sharma said it was unimaginable that a teacher could commit such a crime. The teacher-pradhan nexus has in fact made the whole education atmosphere spurious. Sharma said he would take up the issue in Vidhan Parishad in November.