To improve the education standard was one of the major announcements that Chief Minister Harish Rawat made soon after taking over the reins of the State Government last year and a few appointments were also made in different Government-run schools later on towards this direction. But, for instance, the matter of concern is that out of 3,022 sanctioned teaching staff for different Government-run intermediate colleges in Pithoragarh, only 1,784 posts are filled at present with rest as many as 1,238 posts of teaching staff remaining vacant for long in the district.
More so, teaching staff situation is not less concerning in 30 other schools/intermediate colleges being run under the Rashtriya Madhymik Siksha Abhiyan (RMSA) in Pithoragarh. As the officials concerned of the district education department, Pithoragarh, out of the sanctioned teaching staff of 166 (lecturer teachers) for 30 schools/intermediate colleges, being run under the RMSA, only 69 seats are presently filled. And out of these 30 RMSA-run schools/intermediate colleges, posts of the principals are vacant in seven such schools/intermediate colleges, added the officials concerned of the district education department, Pithoragarha. The fact of the matter is that removal of 211 office assistants/laboratory assistants appointed under the same RMSA in these Government-run schools/intermediate colleges, from April 1, 2015, following the Government of India’s directions in this regard, has only weakened the education infrastructure in the border district.
However, the State Government has also been informed about the removal of the office assistants/laboratory assistants with the hope that the State Government could take necessary steps to fill the aforesaid vacant posts, the officials concerned informed. The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand has time and again from different public forums, admitted that the Government is lagging behind in providing quality education to children in comparison of the private educational institutions in the State. The interesting fact here is that whereas the State Government has not been able to provide even minimum required staff in its schools or colleges over the years as the aforesaid figures suggest, it continues to announce to open new schools.
Under its new plan, the State Government has now also decided to open Rajiv Gandhi Abhinav School in each block of the State in next two years to provide quality education to children even in remote and rural areas across the State. All these Rajiv Gandhi Abhinav Schools will be equipped with residential accommodation facilities so that children even belonging to the remote and less-privileged areas could also get quality education and prepare themselves according to the changing educational environment as per the state Government’s plan, informed the officials concerned.