COIMBATORE: Students in schools that have been upgraded are finding the going tough as the institutions are functioning without the requisite teachers and infrastructure. A status check by The New Indian Express at some upgraded schools revealed that they did not have enough teachers, labs, additional classrooms and toilets.
The government higher secondary school in Kavundampalayam, which was upgraded in 2019-20, offers two streams of Science and Arts subjects. The school has 137 students in class XI and XII. As per norm, there should be nine Post Graduate (PG) teachers in two streams. But only three teachers are available for subjects of Computer Science, Physics, and Biology.
There are no PG teachers to handle Tamil, English, Chemistry, Economics, Commerce, and Accounts. Instead, graduate teachers, who teach classes from class IX to X, handle the subjects.
Headmistress (in charge) R Vaniprabha told TNIE, "The school needs a permanent HM, ten PG teachers, five labs and staff. We need 20 additional classrooms and toilets. We have written to the school education department, and are awaiting their response."
Rajesh (name changed), a class XI student of the school,"Tamil and English medium students are forced to sit in the same classroom due to teacher shortage. We find it difficult to understand Mathematics as other subject teachers handle the classes.'
R Maruthu (name changed), parent of a class Xi student, said, "My daughter says there are no teachers in Accounts, Commerce stream. She tries to study using YouTube, but cannot understand the lessons. I am planning to shift her to another school."
A teacher of the school, on condition of anonymity, said, "Due to teacher shortage, students do not get quality education, and cannot perform experiments in the lab. Graduate teachers cannot handle subjects for classes XI and XII. This is the scenario in most of the upgraded schools in the State."
Headmaster (in charge) of the government school in Neelambur that was upgraded as high school in 2018, Nehru, said staff like Junior Assistant, Office Assistant and Night watchman have not been appointed so far and teachers have to do office work.
H Manokaran , HM of Kuniyamuthur school, which was upgraded as a high school in 2021, said, "The school does not have enough classrooms to accommodate students. The student strength increased from 950 to 1,100 following the upgrade. We need at least 40 classrooms, 15 staff, one high tech lab, five staff."
A PG teacher said,"As per norm, a higher secondary school should function for every five km. In Coimbatore district five high schools have been upgraded to higher secondary in 2018. The Vilankurichi higher secondary school is just three km away from Kalapatti higher secondary school. Several private schools are also functioning nearby. Schools must be upgraded based on need."
Repeated attempts to reach officials in the school education department in Chennai went in vain. Chief Educational Officer N Geetha, however, said the department had collected details of upgraded schools and teachers would be appointed at the earliest.