Dehra Dun : There have been doubts expressed earlier too that student strength in the government schools in Uttarakhand may have been inflated by the teachers, in a bid to ensure that either the schools are not closed down or some of the teachers transferred to other schools in other places because of the low number of children.
Now fears are only being confounded by concerned authorities following a random inspection of over 1100 government schools in the state, in which it was found that over 30 per cent of the students were absent from the classes. Were such a large number of students actually absent on the given day, or is there a large number of fictitious students on the rolls, is the question doing the round in official circles here.
During the inspection of the schools it was found that there was a registered strength of the students in their rolls was over 90,800. The inspectors found that as many as over 28,900 students had abstained them selves from the classes, which officials here feel is too gigh a number, even given the fact that the turnout in the schools in the interiors is normally low, but they fear it could not be that low.
Official sources here confirmed that earlier too during an inspection there was large scale absenteeism from the schools and then too fears were apprehended that a reason could be fake students enrolled in classes by teachers to ensure that they are not transferred out because of low children strength in various classes.
“We are checking this factor out, specially in the chools located in the the plains and easy to access areas of the state, because this is from where the teachers do not want to be transferred out. The teachers in the difficult and interior areas of the state are already in a difficult situation and would want to be posted out from there and as such would not resolve to such tactics”, they claimed.
They admitted that teachers are posted in schools on the strength of the students and if the ratio falls, there are all the chances of teachers being posted out. “To prevent this from happening, it cannot be ruled out that some teachers may be adopting this tactic of inflating the children strength to ensure that they are retained in those very schools”, they pointed out.
A journalist with over 40 years of experience, Jagdish Bhatt was Editor, Hill Post (Uttarakhand).
Jagdish had worked with India’s leading English dailies, which include Times of India, Indian Express, Pioneer and several other reputed publications. A highly acclaimed journalist, he was a recipient of many awards
Jagdish Bhatt, aged 72, breathed his last on 28th August 2021 at his Dehradun residence.
