RAJBIRAJ, Aug 27: Over 400 students attend Thakurji Higher Secondary School of Saptari regularly. More regular to the school are the ninth and tenth graders. And their number is around 300. However, there are no more than five teachers in the school for the higher level classes.

“There are too many students in the higher classes. But with just five teachers for them, things are getting difficult. We have insufficient subject teachers for providing quality education to those students,” said the school Principal Akhileshwor Jha. “Around 300 students are in 9th and 10th class alone,” he added.

Jha stated that he has divided the secondary level classes in four sections. However, in lack of teachers, the division has gone meaningless.

“District education office is not unaware of the problem. We have informed about it to it several times. However, they have not done anything about it,” Jha lamented.

He admits that the school is only engaging the students rather than really helping them with studies. In lack of teachers, operating it effectively is out of question. “Quality education is merely a dream under such conditions,” he said.

Public Higher Secondary School located at the southern part of the district has no different story. Though the school has secondary graders from a dozen of VDCs including Tilathi, Launiya, Kochawkhari, Sakarpur and Rampura, there is acute lack of subject teachers for the higher classes. “This is the only school for secondary and higher secondary level students in the area. Students come to this school from other areas too. But we have only than six teachers to mentor these students,” said Prabhash Jha, the school's principal. “We have over 500 students in the secondary levels,” he informed.

With only six students for hundreds of students, regular class is a far-fetched dream here. Students in the school are extremely weak in major subjects like Mathematics, Science and English. “We have no option than to squeeze around 150 students in a single class. Than also we have been not able to provide them teachers,” Prabhash said.

A teacher at the school Sujit Kumar Mishra added that it is not possible to teach overcrowded class like theirs. “If the teacher teaches by standing in the front rows of the class, students at the back make noise and if we teach them from the back rows, than students in the front take the turn. How can a teacher control such an overcrowded class?” Mishra said.

Jha lamented that the school has been coping with the situation for a long time now and that the school's plea to concerned authorities remain unheard. “Without support of the education office or the government, we cannot increase teachers' quota. And under such condition it has been extremely hard to provide quality education to our students,” he explained.

Even pathetic is the story of Sharada Lower Secondary School located at 'Tapu Gaun'. Due to its remoteness, the village got the name which means, an island village. For five years, this school had to run with a single teacher until the DEO gave permission to add another teacher last year informed Bhojdev Mandal, the school principal.

“We have two teachers since few months for mentoring seven classes. Before some months we had only one teacher. In lack of required number of teachers, it is more like a time pass for both students and teachers at the school,” he added.  

 Mandal termed the teachers and himself as 'caretaker' than teachers. More than discussing the courses with them, making sure that the kids don't get hurt at school has become the major task of the teachers, he said.

Mandal too has informed about the situation to the district education office but the efforts to bring about changes have gone in vain. “Our students do not study in classroom. We make them sit outside as to keep vigil on them,” he said, adding that quality education is merely a talk for kids.

Community schools in Rautahat are attended exclusively by children from poor background. Parents of most of them are daily wage earners. The students are overburdened of work at home and many of them even engaged in income generating works.

According to Mandal, the government needed to give extra attention to the poor children who come to school regularly as their doing so in itself is a huge matter. Due to poverty, few such kids actually manage to get to school. “But then, even when the children and parents are making efforts, they are not getting good education. And it is true in entire Saptari district,” he asserted. He stated that he talked to the district education officials, student unions and several other departments to improve the condition of his school.  “But nothing has really worked so far. Nobody is serious about the future of the nation, the children,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, District Education Officer Shankar Luitel stated that the problem is due to the lack of quota of teachers. “Saptari needs additional 2000 teachers. For 200,000 students around 4,000 teachers should be there. But in lack of teachers we have been working with only 2,500 teachers,” he said.

Photo caption: Bhojdev Mandal , principal of Sharada Lower Secondary School sitting on a chair on the left corner with school students in the ground. Due to lack of teacher, the school keeps students of all the seven grades in the ground in groups and provide lessons, which he claims are not effective at all.

Sharada Lower Secondary School located at 'Tapu Gaun'. Due to its remoteness, the village got the name which means, an island village. For five years, this school had to run with a single teacher until the DEO gave permission to add another teacher last year informed Bhojdev Mandal, the school principal.

We have two teachers since few months for mentoring seven classes. Before some months we had only one teacher. In lack of required number of teachers, it is more like a time pass for both students and teachers at the school.

Principal, Sharada Lower Secondary School

 
• thakurji higher secondary school
 
• poor student teachers ratio
 
• five teachers
 
• saptari