Jamshedpur: The East Singhbhum district Congress committee has urged the state government to take immediate steps to reopen the coaching institutes in the Steel City, which were closed down during the lockdown in March last year.
Talking to TOI on Thursday, district vice-president of the party, Babloo Jha said the convener of the coaching institutes in the city, Sujit Jha, has requested to take up the matter with chief minister Hemant Soren and other authorities concerned.
"All coaching institutes are shut and the students are not getting quality education, putting their academic future in the dark. Moreover, over 10,000 teachers, who are directly involved with the coaching institutes in Jamshedpur, are jobless for nearly one year now and are leading a miserable life," Babloo quoted Jha as saying.
Babloo further said the Jharkhand government should also allow these institutes to reopen as done in other states.
He also urged local MLA and health minister Banna Gupta to extend help in the matter for the good of both students and teachers.
Earlier, Jamshedpur (East) MLA Saryu Rai had also requested the state government to reopen the institutes.
Meanwhile, members of the coaching institutes' association alleged that even though the state government is yet to give a green signal for their reopening, many private tutors and schoolteachers have already started their own classes from last year itself by calling the students to their homes in small batches. The association rued that the administration is turning a "blind eye" to such practices.
Sarmistha C, the mother of a Class IX student, said, "I have no option but to send my kid for private tuition for chemistry and maths, otherwise, my son may be denied the pass marks for the subjects." Similar is the case of many parents who said they were "forced" to send their wards to their schoolteachers concerned during the pandemic.