42 government primary schools in Ambala have ‘zero teachers’

Government primary schools in the district continue to face shortage of teaching staff. There are 478 government primary schools in the district of which 42 schools are under the category of ‘zero teachers’ and 158 schools under the ‘single teacher’ category.

While the Education Department officials claim that the general transfer drive led to the situation and adjustments were made from the other schools to ensure that no school is left without any teacher, the adjusted teachers said that they were overburdened.

An official in the Education Department said, “A general transfer drive was conducted last year by the department. In the transfer drive, preference of station given by the teacher is given importance and not the staff strength. After the transfer drive, a number of schools were left without teachers and with single teacher, following which arrangements were made at the local level by deputing teachers from other schools. Due to inadequate teachers in the schools, the department and teachers have been facing a challenge in improving enrolment in government schools.”

Prakash Chand, district general secretary of Rajkiya Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, said, “The teachers are responsible to teach students of six classes (Bal Vatika and primary classes), mid-day meals, handle office work, attend meetings and also perform non-teaching duties assigned by the government. The same teacher is responsible for conducting survey and increasing enrolment in the schools too. With so much workload on a single person, the teachers are not able to pay adequate attention to the students.”

“In case the teacher at the single-teacher school goes on leave, a teacher from another school is deputed during the leave period. This affects the study of students of the other school as well. The government should recruit new teachers so that ample teachers are available. It will help in improving enrolment too. Recently, a memorandum was submitted to the higher authorities in this regard. The government should ensure that there are at least two teachers in each school and should also focus on strengthening the infrastructure at the ground level,” he added.

Meanwhile, District Elementary Education Officer (DEEO), Ambala, Sudhir Kalra, said, “The department at the local level has made arrangements from the other schools so that no school is left without teacher. Multi-grade teaching training is given to primary schoolteachers to help them in teaching students of different classes. In case of the only teacher going on leave, the cluster in-charges make the arrangement from other schools.”

“The next transfer drive is expected to take place later this month or the next month. We are hopeful that the situation will improve and ample teachers will be available in all schools. Efforts are also being made to improve enrolment in government schools,” he added.