Berhampur: It may sound unbelievable but as many as 625 posts of teachers are lying vacant in 383 government high schools in Ganjam district, a report said Sunday. The state government has been taking various steps to impart quality education to the students in a conducive environment. It is transforming the schools through the establishment of e-libraries, smart classrooms, upgraded playgrounds, improved infrastructure, and other facilities through the 5T initiative.
Such steps are being taken so that students from poor backgrounds studying in these smart schools can get all the benefits and facilities of studying in an English medium public school. Infrastructure improvement in these schools is a welcome move by the state government but the students suffer due to an inadequate number of teachers. People alleged that this part is often overlooked. Shortage of teachers in the schools is a serious setback in children’s education and the state government seems to be falling short in finding a remedy, they lamented. This has sparked concern among the parents and the guardians apprehend that if such a situation persists then the future of the students will be pushed into darkness. With a number of subjects’ teachers missing, the posted teachers are forced to teach the subjects which are not their specialisation.
As a result, students are finding it difficult to understand the lessons taught by other subject teachers. Teachers and guardians have demanded the immediate appointment of all subject teachers in all the schools. According to reports available from the district education office (DEO), 625 posts of teachers are lying vacant in 383 government high schools in the district. Among them, in posts of headmasters (Class-II) there are 29 headmasters against 32 sanctioned posts of headmasters while there are 251 headmasters against 352 posts of SES headmasters. Similarly, in TGT Arts category there are 928 teachers against 1,009 sanctioned teachers, and 380 teachers against a requirement of 470 teachers in TGT PCM category.
Similarly, there are 358 teachers against a need of 445 teachers in TGT CBZ category, 231 teachers against the requirement of 338 teachers in Hindi subject, 306 teachers against the requirement of 369 teachers in Classical subjects, and 243 teachers against the need of 336 PET teachers. The only two departments where there is no vacancy are Telugu language and the posts of block education officers (BEOs). There are 28 teachers teach Telugu while 22 teachers work as BEOs. The state has been showing enough promptness in improving the infrastructure of government schools but it lacks the same zeal and enthusiasm when it comes to filling up the vacant posts of teachers, senior leaders of various teachers’ associations have alleged.
Contacted, additional DEO Pabitra Mohan Sahu said that the state government has created 427 new posts of teachers while 240 retired teachers will be appointed as guest teachers to fill the vacant posts in the district. These guest teachers will teach the students for three periods a day at Rs 12,000 salary per month. Advisor Rajendra Panda of district teachers’ federation said that several youths in the district have cleared the OTET examination and demanded to appoint them in the vacant posts of teachers in the district.