Aggrieved by the alleged shortage of teachers in the primary schools in Latehar district in Jharkhand, parents took out a rally and staged a sit in protest outside the block office in Manika town. The demonstrations were also attended by school children who held placards to demand for their constitutional Right to Education. The protesters stated that almost half of all government primary schools in Manika block merely have a single teacher.
A press statement issued by Gram Swaraj Mazdoor Sangh mentioned that field visits in the run-up to the dharna revealed a dismal atmosphere in the single-teacher schools.
“Typically, all the children are herded in a single classroom. Quite often, teaching is reduced to copying exercises, if there is any teaching at all. Single teachers are often busy with record-keeping and other non-teaching work. In Ravidas Tola, a Dalit basti in Kope gram panchayat, the Brahmin teacher has hired a local woman to teach on his behalf while he sits in the headmaster’s cabin. In many single-teacher schools, it was found that even children studying in Class 5 were unable to read,” the statement mentioned.
The protest was organised by Gram Swaraj Mazdoor Sangh in Manika. About 500 participants protested from more than 10 villages including Bichlidag, Dasdih, Dumbi, Ejamar, Jamuna, Karmahi, Kutmu, Nagta, Pokhari and Ravidastola. Similar agitations against single-teacher schools and teacher shortages have taken place earlier this year in Garu and Giridih.
The organisation which works on poverty alleviation and betterment of labourers alleged that the shortage of school teachers is a huge problem across Jharkhand.
“Almost one third of all government primary schools have a single teacher according to official UDISE [Unified District Information System for Education Plus] data. The recent Gloom in the Classroom report found that only half of the primary schools and just 20 per cent of upper primary schools in Jharkhand have a pupil-teacher ratio below 30.
