Schools with surplus teachers but poor results under scanner

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 27

The Punjab School Education Board results of Class X and Class XII this year reveal that despite surplus teachers posted in Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar (Mohali) district, the pass percentage here was only 68.

A large number of teachers had managed to get posted here as their spouses were either posted at the state headquarters or at Mohali. There are similar examples of schools at the district headquarters having poor results compared to those in rural areas because of the same reason.

Meanwhile, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, which had a 37-per cent shortage of teachers, has shown a pass percentage of 65. The Education Department is making a list of schools with sufficient or surplus staff but poor results and is sending them a notice, a senior officer said. Fazilka district also had surplus teachers but the overall pass percentage was still only about 65.

During the evaluation of board results for Amritsar district, it was found that it had a 20-per cent shortage of teachers but the pass percentage was only 52. Gurdaspur with a 14-per cent staff shortage showed an average pass result of 52 per cent, Ferozepur with a shortage of 13 per cent had 55 per cent result and Pathankot with 13-per cent shortage had only 50 as pass percentage.

At Tarn Taran, where there was a staff shortage of more than 40 per cent, the average pass percentage was only 32.

Talking to The Tribune, a senior officer said, “These schools will be handled for required changes along with all schools which have shown less than 10-per cent result in the first phase.”

All schools with less than 10 pass percentage were called for a meeting with senior officers in Chandigarh on Friday. The interaction concentrated on a detailed follow-up action plan from schools along with a timeline for the expected action.