The residents of Tumukunta of Kundurpi mandal gave vent to their anger over the lax education system on Friday in a novel way and locked out the government primary school at their village, demanding that the school be closed for ever.
Why the villagers would want the school where their children study to be closed? The answer tells about their frustration and the ground reality of the elementary education in rural areas. The school has only one teacher to teach 150 students from class- I to Class-V.
A group of villagers staged a demonstration in front of the school on Friday morning and locked out the premises, shouting slogans that they did not want this school to run, at least not in the way it is being run.
“Attending school has become a mere pastime for our children. One teacher teaching the entire school of 150 students in five classes, that too, all subjects, appears like a joke. But, this is the reality here,” fumed a villager.
Further, the lone lady teacher of the school is also not regular in attending classes, the protesters said, as she has other official responsibilities to discharge, apart from teaching. “She (teacher) is also called for meetings and other works in the mandal headquarters or Anantapur,” said Ramanappa, whose children are Class-II students of the school.
“Even if the teacher wants to be true to her responsibilities, how can she teach students of different classes different subjects at the same time? No need to talk about the quality of teaching here. It is an easy guess. We don’t want our children going to such a school,” said another parent.
The protesters also made it quite clear that unless the school got more teachers, they would not allow the school to function.
Dearth and irregularity of teaching staff at schools have been a nagging issue across the district for several years now.
Though the issue of regularity has been dealt with by the officials in some cases, lack of teachers still remains an issue, said the protesters.
Attending school has become a pastime for our children. When one teacher teaches all subjects in five classes, quality of teaching is an easy guess.-Residents of Tumukunta
