There are a large number of schools with no teachers at all. In some others, a single teacher is teaching up to five grades. Then, there are English teachers who teach science and Hindi teachers teaching geography. And that is probably the reason why students of Class 5 cannot read even basic Hindi text properly and neither can they perform basic mathematical operations like addition and subtraction.

The government might be shouting from the rooftops that it is committed to ‘Education for All’ but its words hardly match its deeds. There are at least 3,000 schools in MP which are on the verge of closure for want of students. School teachers were last recruited in 2012-13 through an exam conducted by Vyapam (now PEB).

School education Commissioner Neeraj Dubey admitted that around 31,000 posts in primary, middle and high and higher secondary schools were lying vacant. Around 4,000 posts of lab assistants and sports teachers are also vacant.

He added that in a recent exercise the department found that 16,000 teachers were surplus in urban schools. They are now likely to be posted against the vacant posts in rural areas.

There are 1,40,820 primary and middle schools in the state which are manned by 2,91,992 teachers. According to the guidelines of the department, every primary school should have at least two teachers and every middle school at least three. As far as the primary schools go, the number of teachers is almost as per the norms. However, in the middle schools, the number of teachers is almost half of what is required. As against the required 1,57,164 teachers, only 83,898 have been appointed.

Government teachers held an emergency meeting to consider various problems faced by them. They pointed out that due to the apathy of the administrative officers, genuine problems faced by the teachers remain unresolved. They complain that these officers remain in their posts for years together due to their political patronage, which leads them to develop vested interests. They mislead the higher officers about the state of affairs.

The government school teachers have warned that unless remedial measures are taken immediately, thousands of schools in the state will face closure in the near future. During the last three years more than ten thousand schools were opened in the state, but without appointing the teachers to man them. Similarly, hundreds of hostels lack basic amenities. State schools are totally dependent on guest teachers, whose salaries are less than the wages of non-skilled workers.

Teachers allege that there is a conspiracy to close down government schools and then hand them over to private organisations, preferably affiliated to RSS. At present higher secondary schools do not have science lab and libraries. Most of the schools also do not have full time principals and headmasters. A major grievance of teachers is that they are often asked to perform non-academic tasks, which result in the neglect of teaching..

Lack of adequate toilets is another serious problem, with some schools not even having separate toilets for boys and girls. Several schools also do not have provision for drinking water. According to reports, students are not provided drinking water even with their mid-day meals.

Things are worse in Aganwadis which take care of poor children. Aganwadi workers met recently and decided to launch an agitation to highlight their demands. An Aganwadi worker gets Rs 5,000 per month. They complain that they are provided sub-standard saris while good quality saris are cornered by the officers. (IPA Service)