Post News Network
Keonjhar, Sept 20: A dismal state of affairs prevailing in schools run by the SC/ST welfare department in this mineral-rich district is taking an irrevocably heavy toll on the quality of education being offered to tribal students.
Parents are voicing their frustration at the kind of schooling that their wards are being doled out. While a drastic shortage of teachers at some schools is to blame, many teachers choose to remain absent from work at the other schools which is compounding the issue, allege locals.
Many tribals in the area believe a proper education for their children is the only hope for them to come out of poverty; the present scenario existing at most SC/ST schools in the district however leaves little to the imagination as to the future that is in store for these
underprivileged children.
Instances of bad management at the schools abound. A tribal student participating in his school’s Ganesh puja immersion ceremony fell off a tractor carrying the idol, and later died. The administration later suspended the headmaster and hostel superintendent of the school.
Take the case of Government Girls’ School at Raiguda under tribal-dominated Bansapal block, where only one teacher was managing the entire school for three days. The school has nine teachers for 157 students, of whom 155 are staying in a hostel. Parents are worried about the safety of their daughters, and had brought this to the notice of officials several times but failed to get an adequate response.
The district education officer and the district social welfare officer, when contacted, said action would be taken against teachers who were remaining absent without permission.
Another official said the headmaster of a local ashram school was assigned the responsibility of managing the school after allegations of teachers remaining absent were brought to their notice.
There are 88 schools including 25 schools under the department and two educational complexes. Besides, the department runs 400 hostels where 30,000 students are provided residential facilities. A lack of proper management and monitoring has meant that most of these schools and hostels are languishing in a sorry state of affairs.
The absence of staff members has indirectly led to a spate of unsavoury incidents such as schoolgirls being sexually exploited with some girls even getting impregnated, say locals.
Occasional cases of students committing suicide have also been reported, putting the spotlight on the SC/ST department for not doing enough to prevent such
incidents from repeating themselves.
Another issue that most people of the area have is that more often than not, male teachers are appointed as headmasters in girls’ schools instead of woman
teachers.
Local lawyer Suraj Mohapatra said the few steps taken by the government to check the problem of absenteeism had failed miserably.
“The department had taken some steps to check absenteeism and ensure punctuality by installing biometric systems and CCTVs at some schools and hostels. However, that has now either been sabotaged or it is not being executed,” Mohapatra said.
Former MP Ananta Nayak alleged both the state and Central governments have been spending crores of rupees for tribal development, but few benefits are reaching the ground-level.
Tribal students have to live in unsafe condition and accidents happen to them, Nayak said, adding the department only resorts to suspending teachers in the way of punitive action when such issues come to light instead of putting in place preemptive measures to check the recurrence of such incidents.
District collector N Tirimala Nayak said a series of measures would soon be taken to improve the state of affairs at the SC/ST schools.