Shortage of staff, outdated infra plague schools in border district

Tribune News Service

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, February 15

Gurmeet Singh Bajwa, a lecturer in a senior secondary school, Kalanaur, is a much harried man. He is paid by the Punjab government to teach Chemistry. However, he spends most of the time teaching Punjabi due to a shortage of tutors. And he has been doing this for the last two years.

Teachers say that the Kalanaur school is just one of the examples of the dire situation of the 400-odd schools located near the international border. Of the seven senior secondary schools in the Kalanaur education block, five function without Principals.

Special cadre on cards

• DEO Amarjit Bhatia says the AAP government is formulating a policy wherein a separate cadre for border area schools is being created
• “The vacancies will be filled soon,” he said

As a rule, the Education Department has to fill up the vacancies of principals through promotions. For the last several years, several border schools have remained headless because the government has not promoted teachers.

There are multiple vacancies in these schools, which function without adequate infrastructure. To compound matters, not even a single teacher is stationed at any of the border’s 54 primary schools. The lackadaisical approach towards solving the day-to-day problems is only adding to the chaos.

Gurmanjeet Kaur, In-charge of the Kalanaur school, says she has brought these anomalies to the notice of the District Education Officer (Secondary) many times.

In her institution, against the 20 sanctioned posts of teacher, seven are lying vacant. Out of the five posts of computer teacher, only one teacher is on duty. All others have been assigned ‘outside duties’ which includes running election-related errands.

Senior Lab Attendants (SLA) are being forced to teach Punjabi while one teaches history rendering the labs empty.

Teachers agree that against the sanctioned strength of 20 lecturers, the requirement is 23. With as many as seven vacancies, this means there is a shortfall of 10 lecturers.

This is the story of almost all schools located near the fencing.

DEO Amarjit Bhatia says the AAP government is formulating a policy wherein a separate cadre for border area schools is being created. “The vacancies will be filled soon,” he said.

Now, after serving the mandatory period of two years in border area schools, teachers get posted near their homes at the first available opportunity. On the face of it, the enrolment aspect looks good. But scratch the surface and it becomes clear that students do not come to study. They come to overcome their hunger. The high school at Talwandi Goraya, near the IB, is no different from the Kalanaur one. Teachers confide that the mid-day meal is the main attraction for the students.

“In all government schools falling in the vicinity of the IB, where the standard of living is abysmally poor, students come just to have meals. The wards of the rich study in private schools while we have on our rolls children of labour-class parents. These people can barely afford two square meals a day,” said Gian Chand, the in-charge.

Chand confirmed that the children get enrolled only due to the mid-day meal scheme. Here too out of 17 posts, 6 are vacant.

He laments the school infrastructure is not well maintained because of meagre funds released by the department.

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