Some time back Punjabi Connection had written about the State of our Schools, here is a news item that sheds further light on the subject
This Punjab school has no students
Gurdeep Singh Mann
Tribune News Service
Prempura (Fatehgarh Sahib), April 17
It’s not a school for scandal but certainly has something queer about it. The government primary school at Prempura lacks the very thing that forms the core of a school: Students. But it certainly has a teacher — 32-year-old Rupinder Kaur.
In many ways, Kaur is a unique teacher as her responsibility extends beyond doling out lessons. Everyday, while on her way to school, she has to convince the villagers and sometimes even plead with them to send their wards to the government facility. But till now her efforts have been in vain as the school has not seen even a single student enrolling in the current academic session.
The villagers, who scoff at lack of basic facilities at the school, are happy sending their children to nearby private institutes. “The private schools are much better as compared to the government school, which even doesn’t have basic infrastructure,” rued Manjit Singh, a villager.
Around seven years ago, the school was closed down due to lack of teachers. It was started a year ago under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan. Kaur said she taught two Class I students in the just-concluded session. “But there are no students now. Despite our repeated requests, people here don’t want to send their kids to the government school,” she said.
The villagers maintain that it is a prestige issue for them to to send their children to private schools (there are more than three in the vicinity of the village) where there are teachers, who no teachers give lessons in English, and latest facilities, including computers.
Manjit Singh said since there is no student in the government school, the teacher should be deputed to some other school that is reeling under staff crunch.
“The money being spent on maintaining the school and the salary of the teacher should not go waste,” he added.
Manjit Kaur block chairperson of Human Rights Manch and member of Block Education Committee said that efforts should be made to improve facilities in government schools to attract students. She said that there are some other schools in the area where the strength of students is quite low.
When told that there was not even s single student enrolled in the Prempura school, DEO (primary) Surinder Singh said: “I will have to check it.”
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“But there are no students now. Despite our repeated requests, people here don’t want to send their kids to the government school,” she said.
In brief, the reluctance of parents to send their children to Government schools seems to be an important issue as evident from the above observation. The conditions in Government schools are pathetic and well-known. That parents are willing to educate their wards is obvious from the way private schools have come up in the rural areas leave alone the urban. But these schools charge a lot and parents, therefore, tend to send boys to these schools and thus neglect the girls.
Why should students go to school when there no teachers?
Here's an Indian Express report dated July 19, 2010
The education department of Punjab has finally initiated action against hundreds of government school teachers who have gone ‘missing’ in the last several years.
The reason for this long and unaccounted-for absenteeism? The lure of the West and the sweet rustle of the dollar, sources said.
According to the list prepared by the Education department, 1,186 employees have been absent from duty for long. Some for over a decade. These include principals, headmasters, lecturers, masters and mistresses, vocational masters and ETT teachers in all districts of Punjab.
Krishan Kumar, Director General, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, Punjab, said: “We have sent the detailed chargsheets of all these absentees to the officers concerned for further action. I had a meeting today with senior officers of the department who told me that public notices have been issued against defaulters before taking action. Some District Education Officers (DEOs) have already initiated action against such teachers.”
Talking to The Indian Express , Sadhu Singh Randhawa, Director Public Instructions (Elementary), Punjab said, “We have already dismissed 213 employees from the primary wing. These men and women went abroad on long leave and did not report back to duty.” Another officer said, “More than 100 employees of the secondary department have also been dismissed by now.”
Randhawa added the department now makes teachers sign an affidavit before proceeding on long leave to a foreign country. The teacher has to mention that he will not extend his leave. If he does, the affidavit is automatically considered as his resignation for one who has served ten years, District Education Officer (Secondary), Ludhiana, Vachitar Singh said. “Those with 20 years of service will be automatically retired and not allowed to join back. They will, however, get pension benefits.”
Meanwhile, Satnam Singh Dhaliwal, president of the NGO, Universal Human Rights Organisation, claimed: “The Education department became active only when we sought information under the RTI on October 9 last year about absentee teachers. We also wanted to know if appointments had been made in their places. Our aim is to help schoolchildren. Moreover, these teachers are a burden on the government since they avail of all benefits after retiring.”
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