BENGALURU: Many Urdu schools in the state are hit by a shortage of teachers resulting in students being deprived of quality education. The lesser number of teachers available leads to them spending more time in miscellaneous tasks, instead of focussing on quality teaching. The number of teachers qualifying in recruitment tests has been less, which has been the main issue for shortage of teaching staff in Karnataka Urdu schools, said an official from the Department of Public Instruction (DPI).
Data from the Department of Public Instruction website show that there is a shortage of 13 per cent teachers in primary schools and 11 per cent in high schools. Teachers say they are in dire need of more staff as they are overburdened and forced to work for longer hours. Shakila Banu, a teacher from Government Urdu Higher Primary School (GUHPS) in Sampangi Ramanagar said, “Due to shortage of teachers, we have to teach an extra 12 to 16 subjects.
We often have to work for longer hours and do extra work like filing documents in offices due to which we are unable to give full attention to the students.” Another teacher Saleha Fatima from GUHPS in Byrasandra said that one of the primary school branches was in urgent need of new recruits as they have around 500 students with 80 to 90 students per class. “It is getting difficult for teachers to manage such a large batch at once”, she said.
‘Process to recruit 15K teachers almost over’
Syed Sajid Husaini, in-charge of GUHPS in Neelsandra said many schools are facing a shortage since new recruitment has not been done since the last four to five years. Many teachers retired during this time which has only added to the burden. The DPI official, however, said that they have almost completed the recruitment process for 15,000 new teachers. “Guest teachers have been appointed in schools for now to fill the gap. The recruitment process has also been made easier to make more teachers clear the exams,” the official said. D Shashi Kumar, an educationist and general secretary at the Karnataka Associated Management of English Medium Schools (KAMS) also admitted that the shortage of teachers was because most of them were unable to clear the exams. He said: “Due to financial constraints, the government has resorted to hiring guest teachers as a major chunk of the budget goes into salaries.”