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Slew of problems plague schools’ functioning

A student preparing food for schoolchildren at Marichamal village in Koraput district

KORAPUT: Dalu Jani, a student of standard I was the cook, and Sudhir Jani of standard II, the helper. While the rice was boiling, children were waiting to get a signal from their friend Dalu to have their food. Dalu checked if the rice was prepared. Sudhir brings some water and serves the watery rice to his friends as the mid-day meal at 9 a.m., well before the school bell rang. And for the last many days, the school bell is not rung in the village, say villagers.

Kadambini Jani, a student of the school, does not know in which class she is studying and Salma Jani, ward member of the village, has no knowledge whether there is any bell in the school. There are three teachers in the school at Marichamal village under the Laxmipur block in Koraput district. But none has seen them together even once in the village, Salma alleges. There are at least 60 children in the village and the villagers are also interested in sending even their daughters to the school. But for the non-functioning of the school there is no one in the village who reaches his secondary school, Satya Jani, says former ward member of the village.

However, this is not the only school in Koraput district which is affected by the absence of teachers. While the teachers remain out of the school, the inspecting mechanism is also not proved effective in the district. Shortage of staff in all the sectors, starting from teachers to the grassroot level school inspectors, has crippled the education system in the district, says Nityananda Pradhan, HOD, Education Department, DAV College.

At a time when irrational posting of teachers in schools like that of Marichamal village has been hampering education in the district, many schools are left to get managed by a single teacher or the sikhya sahayak. The State government has not gone for appointment of regular teachers in the last ten years after regularising the sikhya karmis way back in 1995, Rabinarayan Mishra, a researcher, says.

Moreover, due to lack of funds and resources to fill the vacancies of teachers, the State government has to depend on schemes like DPEP, Sarva Sikhya Abhiyan (SSA) and Education Guaranty Scheme (EGS) which in turn has coined the concept of sikhya sahayaks and para teachers to fill the gap. Even though para teachers got their appointment from the village communities and the sikhya sahayaks received support from SSA, it did not give any permanent solution to the existing problem.

Now that DPEP is in its last stage in Koraput district and SSA being ended in 2010 in the State. The sikhya sahayaks, sensing the danger of facing retrenchment for the shortage of funds after being handed over to the State government from the project, have taken to streets demanding regularisation of their services.

Against this background, many schools have virtually been closed, the half-yearly examinations are postponed and studies of the children got hampered. If the State government does not come out with any concrete and comprehensive solution, education system in Koraput district will be affected badly, it is feared.

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