Student strength in Ambala govt schools on decline

Despite organising Parvesh Utsavs and holding door-to-door campaigns to improve enrollment, the government schools in Ambala have witnessed a drop in student strength. The Education Department had set a target to improve the number of students to over 75,000 in the district’s 762 government schools. Last year, there were over 73,160 students studying in government schools, while the enrolment in the current academic year, so far, is just about 60,210.

Amit Chhabra, spokesman, Rajkiya Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, Haryana, said “There are 478 primary schools in the district, of which about 200 are single teacher. The decline in the students’ strength has been a matter of concern for us. The months of April and May are important for admissions, but after finding out that teachers are often occupied in non-academic duties, parents don’t show much interest in sending their children to government schools. For quality education, there is a need to increase the number of teachers.”

Prakash Chander, general secretary, Rajkiya Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, Ambala, said, “The teachers remain occupied with non-academic duties, including the Census, BLO, midday meals and election duties. When one teacher is managing five to six classes at primary schools, along with other duties, it paints a worrying picture. The government pays private schools to teach EWS students, while it should be focusing on hiring more teachers for government schools and improving their facilities.”

Similarly, in senior secondary schools, there is a shortage of subject specialists. Biology, mathematics and chemistry teachers are scarce at senior secondary and PM-SHRI schools. The students who want to opt for such subjects have to shift to private schools. School staff and parents of several government schools from Panjokhra, Ghel, Baldev Nagar, Sapera and Ambala Cantonment met officials of the Education Department in this regard. Additionally, Cabinet Minister Anil Vij had directed district officials to fulfil the requirement of specialists.

A government school teacher said, “Parents try to find a school for their children where they can study from nursery to Class XII. People belonging to economically weaker sections (EWS) of society try to get admissions for their children in private schools under the RTE Act from entry-level classes. Once a student gets admitted to a private school, they will never come to a government school even if there are many facilities being offered.”

An official of the Education Department said ensuring admissions in entry-level classes were very important if the government wanted to see higher classes with good student strengths. “A decline in the number of students at the government school’s Bal Vatikas has been a major concern. Since Bal Vatikas feed the primary classes, a shortage of students there would result in a shortage of students in higher grades. Last year, there were over 2,500 students in Bal Vatikas, while this year, there are just around 1,700 students,” he said.

Another government school said, “Government schools are stuck in a comical paradox. While people don’t want to send children to government schools because of a shortage of teachers, the department doesn’t want to give teachers to schools because of a shortage of students. In the current situation, neither the strength of students nor the teachers is likely to improve. To build trust in society, there is a need to ensure an adequate number of teachers and offer a wide range of subjects for quality education.”

District Education Officer (DEO) Sudhir Kalra said, “The admission process is still on and efforts are being made to improve the student enrolment. Staff has been directed to identify out-of-school children in their respective areas and bring them to schools. Students who failed to clear the Class IX and XI examinations are yet to take admissions and as per directions from the department, they will be given another opportunity to clear their examinations.”

“Efforts are being made to remove misconceptions about government schools among parents and spread the message that the infrastructure at government schools is continuously improving and they are providing high-quality education. We are also motivating students to tell people in their neighbourhood about the facilities and benefits, including midday meals, books and uniforms, offered at government schools,” he added.

“There were over 6,600 students in Class X during the last academic session and students who have cleared the examination will take admissions in Class XI within the next few days. Currently, there are around 550 students in Class XI and we are expecting around 6,000 more students to be admitted. The schools are being developed under the ‘PM-SHRI’ and ‘Model Sanskriti Schools’ initiatives, and modern laboratories and provisions for vocational education are being provided. We are confident that the number of students will improve in the coming years,” he said.