JAGATSINGHPUR: Throwing the State Government directive to schools to function in morning hours for respite from scorching heat during the summer to wind, School and Mass Education has been conducted training programmes for primary school teachers at the places not having electricity and drinking water facilities in day time. As a result, five lady teachers have fallen ill during the last week.
The department has been conducting the training for Ujjwal, Utthan and Utkarsh programmes to assess the learning capacity of students. While Ujjwal programme focuses on equipping students from Class I to V with basic skills in Odia, Mathematics and English, Utthan is meant for students of Class VI to VIII to acquire grade level skills in these three subjects. Utkarsh aims to improve the skill and knowledge base of students of Class IX. The training programme was started from April 19 and will continue till May 5.
While 3,087 teachers are undergoing training for Ujjwal at 71 centres, 1712 teachers are attending Utthan programme at 42 centres. The training session is being conducted from 9.30 am to 5 pm. Due to extreme heat condition, Mirarani Satpathy, lady teacher of Odisso Upper Primary school attending the training programme at Purohitpur centre, fell unconscious and was admitted to district headquarters hospital. Earlier, another lady teacher Kiranbala Patra of Deobhog Primary school fell ill at SK academy during the training. The condition of three other teachers, who faced the same situation, is stated to be critical.
The teachers alleged that while all the Government offices, courts and education institutions function in the morning to prevent heat related problems, it is surprising that the authorities of School and Mass Education department are conducting the training programme in day time. They further said some training centres have asbestos roofs and others have no adequate supply of drinking water. Besides, ORS, glucose, first aid and electricity supply are not provided to the teachers in the scorching heat.
District Education Officer Prativa Manjari Das admitted that though temperature has been steadily rising at several places of the district but, the department is conducting the training programme of teachers as per the direction of School and Mass Education department. However, she assured that the department will take necessary steps to deal with the situation.