Dearth of students forces teachers to go door-to-door for enrollment in Midnapore Primary School

Ironically, government schools across the country, which provide free education to students, are facing a dearth of students. Teachers in West Bengal are reportedly going door-to-door to enrol students. Whereas in some schools there are no teachers others have been deprived of basic amenities. The bitter truth is that government schools were supposed to provide free education to the poor and the lower middle class are crying for attention. Therefore, the state governments should wake up from slumber and provide facilities in schools and appoint teachers to impart good education to students, writes ETV Bharat's Sanjib Guha.

Midnapore (West Bengal): Can you imagine teachers going door-to-door to enrol students in schools? No, but the teachers of Hanspukur Shahid Khudiram Primary School in Midnapore pay a visit to the homes to enrol students as only eight students are studying in schools. The school has three teachers, including one para teacher.

In this backdrop, two teachers go door-to-door from neighbourhood to neighbourhood to enrol students in the school. There are eight students on paper, but on average, only four remain present. So, the teachers left with no other option, but to go door-to-door to bring the students to school.

However, the teachers said that it did not help much. For the record, most of the primary schools in Midnapore wore a deserted look as there were only a few students. At one time there were 50-60 students in the school, but the number has dwindled to eight now. The three students, who regularly attend classes, also have to be called from home every day.

The three-four students, who regularly attend classes, also have to be called from home every day. Local residents want their children to study in higher secondary schools, according to a teacher.

Assistant headmistress Sarathi Kar said, "Once there were many students in the school. The primary school used to remain crowded. But, that number has come down to eight. It is sad. Teachers have to go to students' homes every day to bring those students. Besides, I go from neighbourhood to neighbourhood every day in search of new students. But it doesn't help."

Headmistress Nazima Khatun said, "The main reason for this drop in the number of students is the higher secondary schools, because they have primary sections, parents don't have to worry about their children once they are admitted to those schools where they can study up to high school. But, we only have the primary section. Hence, the parents of the students don't want to send their children to this school. So, we go out every day to look for the children."

According to a student named Ruby Dule, they used to have a lot of classmates. "But now they are not coming. They got admitted to another school. But, we all want this school to return to its glory."

Here is the list of several other states' primary schools' education conditions as per the ETV Bharat report

Jharkhand

In 30 per cent of schools, there is only one teacher in Jharkhand. There are 6,904 such government schools in the state, which are running with one teacher. It has a maximum of 6,388 primary schools.

Maharashtra

The teacher-student ratio in Maharashtra is 25 for classes I to V and 27 for VI to VIII. In the Secondary Section (IX - X ) the teacher-student ratio in Maharashtra is 21 whereas, in higher secondary for Class XI and Class XII, the ratio is 38.

Bihar

In the Bettiah district of Bihar, 200 children study in two classrooms. Two classes operate on one blackboard. Children study sitting on the floor in the cold.

Kerala

The Kerala teacher-student ratio in the Lower Primary Section is 1:30, the Upper Primary Section ratio is 1:35, and the High School ratio is 1:40.

There were 310 single-teacher schools in Kerala. Most of them closed last year. Now there, are only 27 single-teacher schools. The current strength of students in government-aided and un-aided schools together is 37,04,724.

Uttar Pradesh

The total number of such schools in the state where one or two teachers are working is 1,800.

Madhya Pradesh

There is a shortage of teachers in the schools of Madhya Pradesh. The reason is that more than 12,000 teachers across the state are working in other departments except the education department. About 18,000 government schools in the state are running based with only one teacher.

Jammu and Kashmir

According to the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), there are 23,173 government schools in Jammu and Kashmir out of which 12,974 are primary, 7,612 are upper primary, 1,743 are secondary and 789 are Higher Secondary. In these schools, 14,73,368 students are enrolled. The report claims the teacher-pupil ratio in government schools is 1:14 while in private schools the ratio is 1:16.

Rajasthan

According to the data received from the school union School Shiksha Parivar, there is one teacher for every 17 students in Rajasthan, although all the teachers of I, II and III grades are included in it.

Gujarat

A total of 700 government-run primary schools in Gujarat are managed by a single teacher, who teaches all students of Classes I to VIII.

Karnataka

Nearly, 4,000 Government Primary Schools are working with single teachers.