Lack of staff, infra bane of Tarn Taran village school
From staff shortage to inadequate infrastructure, Government Senior Secondary School, Chohla Sahib, is grappling with a host of issues.
The school is meant to provide education to children from the weaker sections of society, besides those from the rural belt on the India-Pakistan border. However, the Education Department and public representatives are indifferent to the plight of the school.
Chohla Sahib village has a population of about 15,000, of which over 7,800 are voters. There are limited number of educational institutions to cater to students from nearby villages.
The construction of three classrooms in the school was stopped midway due to the lack of funds. The villagers said waterlogging in the school was a common occurrence in the rainy season as level of the school complex is lower than the road in front.
Of the 20 sanctioned post of teachers in the school, only five are filled. The post of principal is lying vacant for years. The school has a strength of 335 students, including 107 students in Classes XI and XII. The school only offer Humanities courses. Over 100 students of these classes have expressed their resentment that their syllabus is not covered every year and they have to depend on self-study. The students said most of their predecessors had appeared in annual exams without covering the syllabus.
Moreover, with the post of principal lying vacant, the school also suffers from the lack of good administration.
The situation in from Classes VI to X is also far from satisfactory. There are 12 posts of master cadre teachers in English, Social Education, Math, Punjabi, Hindi, etc, but only five teachers are working. They teach all the above-mentioned subjects to 335 students from Classes VI to XII. There is no teacher for art and craft, physical education and DPE for years now.
The alleged indifferent attitude of politicians is also working against the students as four teachers, apparently having ‘connections’, have been sent on deputation to schools closer to their home districts. The post of clerk is vacant.
Officials claim that the department has imposed ban on the practice of sending teachers on deputation, especially from the schools facing staff shortage. However, villagers alleged the teachers who had been posted at stations far-off from their homes managed to get deputation in their home districts with their political influence.
Requesting anonymity, officials of the department said maximum number of teachers had been sent on deputation to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s home district.
