Teaching hampered in 365 high schools
The poor education system in tribal dominated and backward Keonjhar has put a question mark on the success of myriad education programmes including the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
According to the State School and Mass Education department sources, more than 500 posts of high school teachers are lying vacant in the district. The schools facing teacher shortage are mostly located in interior rural pockets. The trend is severely hampering teaching in the schools.
There are 203 Government high schools, 41 Government-aided schools and 121 Block Grant schools in the district. Out of the total 365 high schools, most schools have shortage of teachers for which Arts teachers or language teachers are teaching science and mathematics, while science teachers are assigned to deal with Sanskrit, sports and games class. In these high schools posts of 173 Arts teachers, 30 PCM teachers, 17 CBZ teachers, 27 Sanskrit teachers, 68 Hindi teachers, 29 PETs and nine other teachers are lying vacant since long.
Apart from the Government high schools, 46 teacher posts in unaided schools and 35 teacher posts in Block Grant schools are vacant too. Hence, a total of 190 posts for Arts teachers, 78 Science teachers, 73 Hindi teachers and 32 sports teachers are waiting to be filled up. Surprisingly, it is hard to understand why these posts are intentionally kept vacant when a long list of trained teachers are awaiting for employment in the district.
In meantime, the Government has opened new high schools in some blocks without providing required teachers.
Ten such new high schools have been opened recently in different gram panchayats having no high schools earlier. But the question is can these schools impart education without posting of adequate teaching staffIJ