We have heard of single-teacher schools. But what about six teachers teaching one student?
Sunil Kamble is the only student pursuing the two-year D.Ed. course at the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), Dharwad.
For the 100 seat-course, only five students sought admission last year and three joined. While one student got transferred to Gulbarga in between, another one discontinued the course leaving Mr. Kamble all alone. “We tried to admit him to the girl’s training college. But the rules do not permit it,” an official said.
He said students were not interested in pursuing the D.Ed. course. This is for the first time the enrolment has reached such a low. In the last batch, there were only two students.
However, learning is not a happy experience for Mr. Kamble too. Though he is staying in the hostel, he has to go outside to have food as no one is willing to cook for one person in the canteen.
“We do not receive government grants for boarding of students. Earlier, the expenses for food were shared by hostel residents. We made arrangements for Mr. Kamble to have lunch at a nearby school which offers midday meal. But he has to make his own arrangements for breakfast and dinner, which is expensive,” the official said.
Some others said the BJP government should be blamed the low enrolment as primary school teachers’ posts were lying vacant for a long time. Many D.Ed. students are sitting idle or joined any courses.
Interestingly, the course syllabus was revised recently to suit the present-day needs and innovative and modern learning concepts were added. “The low enrolment rate should be a wake up call for the government,” officials added.
