KENDRAPARA: Protesting the transfer of a teacher and demanding filling up of vacant posts, students of Gopinathpur upgraded Upper Primary School under Kendrapara’s Rajkanika block locked the school main gate and sat on dharna on Tuesday.
Sources said the school has a student strength of 145 from classes I to VIII. Though it has a requirement of eight teachers, the school reportedly functions with just four teachers for over a year now. “The institution already has a shortage of teachers but the authorities here have decided to transfer a teacher to another school which is why we are protesting,” said a guardian Baijyati Rout.
Another guardian Bhikari Das also pointed out that the staff crunch had an adverse impact on the quality of education imparted. “Our repeated requests to address the issue has been falling on deaf ears,” he added.
The agitators further raised slogans against the alleged apathy of the concerned officials in recruiting new teachers. “Since there are so many vacant posts in government schools, English medium schools are sprouting in rural areas to meet the growing demands,” said a retired school headmaster Basudev Das.
Contacted, block education officer of Rajkanika Kailash Chandra Dalai said he was aware of the dharna staged by the students. “We transferred the said school teacher from Gopinathpur upgraded UP School to the nearby Panki Primary School since the sole teacher there retired on April 1,” he said adding, a new teacher would be appointed in the vacant position soon.