Low motivation behind less school enrolment: Teachers

Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, April 21

The enrolment of students in schools in Ludhiana district is on the decline as compared to last year. Teachers and principals may have expressed satisfaction about many new admissions in middle and higher classes this year, but data tells otherwise.

When asked about the reason behind low admission in government schools this year, teachers said they were not properly motivated by the District Education Department to enrol more students in government schools.

One of the principals of a senior secondary government school said earlier meetings were called and principals and teachers were motivated to enrol new students, but it was missing this time. “We were neither appreciated nor motivated to enrol more students in schools,” the principal added.

Another senior teacher of a government school wishing not to be quoted said, “Recently, I went to a school and asked the authorities and parents to send their children to government senior secondary schools, but a local level politician, who was present there, asked me to refrain from doing so.”

“The politician said those, who can afford to send their wards to private schools, should continue to do so. In such cases, how can we convince parents that the authorities concerned are making sincere efforts to make government schools better than private institutions,” the teacher added.

The former Ludhiana DEO, Harjit Singh, said that there was some technical snag in the main software and city’s data was not collected properly. If data was collected now, one could definitely find a jump in enrolment, he added.

Meanwhile, many teachers said the Education Department expected more from them. “How can we add more and more students each year. Ludhiana is a big district, but that does not mean that there will always be a jump in students’ enrolment,” said another teacher.