REWARI: Two government schools for girls in rural Haryana that had been upgraded to the senior secondary level following a hunger strike by the students are now facing a shortage of teachers.
In Rewari's
Gothra Tappa Dahina, the government had to upgrade the middle school to the senior secondary level after 83 girl students started an indefinite hunger strike on May 10 this year. The girls were unwilling to go to the senior secondary school in neighbouring Kanwali village because of alleged teasing by boys. The students eventually broke their fast on May 17 after the state government issued a notification upgrading the village school to Class XII. A principal was deputed the same day, and admissions started the next day.
A similar protest had taken place in
Suma Khera village in April last year, when girls from the government primary school sat on a three-week long dharna demanding that their institution be upgraded. The girls had refused to travel to the senior secondary school in Lala village, 2km away, after a student was sexually assaulted on her way to school on April 18, 2016. The girls had even obtained school leaving certificates en masse.
"We had stopped going to the school in Lala and started a hunger strike and dharna. In the scorching heat, we stayed out of school despite being hungry for days. As kids, we fought with the highest authorities to get higher education," said Gayatri Sharma, a student of the Suma Khera school.
The protest had prompted then PWD minister Rao Narbir Singh to assure villagers that the school would be upgraded.
Though 21km apart, the two schools have met the same fate months on.
In Suma Khera, there is a shortage of teachers for Classes XI and XII. Of the sanctioned strength of 20 teachers, only 10 are posted there. The students said there were no teachers for science, chemistry, computers and math.
"We only have teachers for Hindi and English. There are none for the science subjects. It is already December and the final exams are approaching. Our syllabus isn't complete and we have no idea what to do. I am a science student and it is not something we can study on our own," said Yukta Kumari, a student at the Suma Khera school.
In Gothra Tappa Dahina, only eight teachers have been posted against a sanctioned strength of 15. There are no teachers for geography, social studies, Sanskrit and physical education, the students said.
"There were around 35 girls in Class XI when the school was upgraded last year. But because of the staff shortage, they have started quitting one by one. Now, there are only 13 girls in Class XII. There is no sanctioned post even for the principal here," said Suresh Chauhan, the sarpanch of Gothra Tappa Dahina.
Education department officials pleaded helplessness, saying they were bound by the recruitment rules. "According to the rules, there should be one lecturer for 50 students and we need at least 20 students to hire a faculty. Here, we have nine teachers for 26 students in senior classes, that is one lecturer for every three students. Efforts are being made to allocate as much resources as possible. The villagers, too, should send more children to these schools and increase the numbers," said
Dharambir Baldodiya, the district education officer of Rewari.
Social activist T C Rao had on November 25 written to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, highlighting the shortage of faculty. Rao had then requested for the vacancies to be filled and urged that until then, faculty from neighbouring schools with lesser students be asked to fill in a few times a week. "The shortage of teachers not only affects the education of the students, but also speaks very poor about the system," said Rao.
