All government schools in the city's periphery are facing an acute shortage of teachers. Some of these schools, in fact, are running headless in the absence of any headmaster/headmistress.
At present, Hindi, social studies and physical education are some of the subjects that are being taught by non-specialist teachers.
The shortage of teachers has taken its toll as is evident by the recent results. Only 58.64% students passed the Class 10 examination in the last academic session.
In the Government Senior Secondary School Hambran, five posts of teachers have been lying vacant for the last three years.
The Government High School Aliwal needs to fill three posts of teachers. There is no Hindi teacher in this school, and two posts of teachers have been lying vacant ever since the school started.
The Government High School Talwandi has seven posts of teachers yet to be filled. In this school, there are no teachers for subjects like Hindi, social studies and physical education. Also, the school has been running without a headmaster for the last one year.
Said the functioning school headmistress, "There are 245 students in the school and not a single Hindi teacher. So, the subject is being taught by teachers of other subjects. We have 65 students in Class 6, 58 in Class 7 and 47 students in Class 8. How can we maintain the teacher pupil teacher at 1: 35?"
{{/usCountry}}Said the functioning school headmistress, "There are 245 students in the school and not a single Hindi teacher. So, the subject is being taught by teachers of other subjects. We have 65 students in Class 6, 58 in Class 7 and 47 students in Class 8. How can we maintain the teacher pupil teacher at 1: 35?"
{{/usCountry}}According to the Right to Education Act, 2009, the teacher-pupil ratio should be 1: 30. But in most of the government schools in the district it is impossible to maintain this ratio due to the shortage of teachers. In most of these schools, one teacher is handing at least 50 to 60 students.
Talking to Hindustan Times, director general, school education, Punjab, Kahan Singh Pannu, said, "We are aware that there is a shortage of teachers in government schools of Punjab. We are recruiting ten thousand teachers to solve the problem."
According to Pannu 3,400 teachers will be hired by October 15, and the rest by November 2012.
Headless schools
Government High School Talwandi is functioning without a headmaster, as the post has been lying vacant for the last few months. Government High School, Dewatwal does not have a sanctioned post of headmaster/headmistress. Government Primary School Dewatwal is also functioning without a head for the last one month. Government Elementary School Gorsiankhan Mohammad too has no sanctioned post of the headmaster/headmistress. Three regular teachers have been running the school.