Here, mid-day staff take charge of classes

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, May 23

The Right to Education (RTE) Act recommends a 30:1 pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) for the primary classes. 

However, a primary school at Batour village in the Barwala block of Panchkula district in Haryana has just  two teachers for 140 students.

More appaling, three midday meal workers take charge of the classes (nursery to Class V). When busy, they leave the task to students  brighter than the rest. 

To overcome staff shortage, teachers hold two classes simultaneously in one classroom with one of the classrooms having been turned into a store. Water tanks, a  ladder, and other unwanted items are dumped here.

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Village sarpanch Laxman Das says they have written to the state government and the district administration several times to raise the strength of teachers. “You cannot expect the students to do well academically in such a dismal scenario,” he says, emphasising that the teachers are not to be blamed. 

“They have administrative duties as well. The government must provide at least two more teachers,” he adds. 

When contacted, local MLA Gian Chand Gupta, while  admitting there was staff shortage at primary schools across the state, said the process to appoint JBT teachers was on and that the primary school at Batour “will soon get teachers.”