Mumbai: Despite repeated appeals by teachers, the civic education department has refused to appoint counsellors in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools. The department claims they do not want to add to their staff on their payroll but plans to appoint a third party agency to hire and pay counsellors.
Over 2,596 civic-run schools are functioning without a professional counsellor to help students during difficult times. Teachers have been raising this issue since October but the education department has not paid any heed to it. When the Free Press Journal questioned the department earlier, they claimed they do not have sufficient professional counsellors as there are large number of BMC schools.
Now, the department claims they do not want to appoint counsellors on their payroll as this would add to their staff. Mahesh Palkar, BMC Education Officer, said, “We cannot appoint counsellors under our own payroll and add them to our staff. We already have a lot of staff working in BMC schools right from peons, cleaners, teachers and principals. We cannot add more staff by hiring counsellors in every school.”
While teachers revealed they do not know how to tackle and manage students when they are burdened with stress or face any psychological difficulty. Aarti Pugaonkar, a former teacher and member of education committee, said, “Counsellors should be hired in all BMC schools as students often need guidance and help. Some students are also scared of their teachers and parents and, therefore, do not open up easily. If professional counsellors are present in schools then students and teachers can approach them for help and prevent any untoward incident.”
Authorities of the education department stated they will appoint an agency to hire, provide and manage counsellors to BMC schools. Palkar added, “We are working on hiring an agency which will appoint these counsellors. We will pay the salaries of these counsellors but they will be hired on a third party basis.”
By Ronald Rodrigues