BENGALURU: The performance of SSLC students in English language has been a cause for concern for the Primary and Secondary Education Department. But surprisingly, it has chosen to ignore the huge shortage of English teachers in government high schools since 2009.
Sample this. Of the 4,669 government schools in the state, 1,544 do not have dedicated English teachers. According to information provided by Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait, there has been a dearth of English teachers since 2009 after many teachers retired.
As per the data provided by the Education Department, as many as 751 posts of English teachers are vacant and 793 posts have not been sanctioned at all.
The department officials, however, said they have issued a notification to fill 293 posts during the academic year 2014-15. But this too has yielded no result.
When contacted, a top official of the department said, “A proposal has been sent to the state government seeking permission to fill the posts of English teachers in government high schools. Once we get approval, we will issue a notification based on the vacancies.”
The official added, “In case there are two posts for art and craft teacher, we have given permission to convert one of these posts for a English teacher.”
However, following the department’s directions, some schools have filled the English teacher’s post by appointing a guest faculty. In most cases, it is the science teachers who double up as English teachers.
Teachers are of the opinion that while it may not be too difficult to find English teachers in urban areas, the problem is in rural areas. “As for the schools in cities, even volunteers come to teach English there. But we have to depend on regular teachers because it is next to impossible to even find guest faculty,” said another school headmaster from Hassan district.