This story is from January 3, 2018

To tackle teachers’ shortage, officers take classes in Gonda

To tackle teachers’ shortage, officers take classes in Gonda
Divya Mittal (L), Archana Verma
LUCKNOW: Rising from the infamy of being declared the dirtiest city in India by Swachh Bharat survey, Gonda has thrown up a remarkable model of education that carries promise of covering up the shortage of teachers in government schools.
The Gonda district administration launched ‘My Officer, My Mentor’ scheme and requested officers to take classes in government inter college where intermediate students were struggling due to absence of teachers.
Chief development officer Divya Mittal and SDM Archana Verma volunteered first and were soon followed by others.
It all started with a visit of district officials to Government Inter College, Gonda, for a voter awareness programme. “We routinely asked the principal about any problems being faced by students. He said that there were no teachers to teach science subjects in class 11and 12. I asked officers to volunteer and two lady officers came forward to teach maths, english and physics,” said JB Singh, district magistrate Gonda. Immediately, a Whatsapp group called ‘My Officer, My Mentor’ was formed and a message was circulated to all officers in the district. “In a few hours, 20 others offered to teach subjects like biology and chemistry,” Singh told TOI.
DM asks retd teachers to contribute to mission
SDM Tarabganj Amresh volunteered to take lessons in biology while naib tehsildar Satyapal offered to teach chemistry. The DM also appealed to retired teachers to contribute in the mission.
The good response has kindled hopes among students of doing better in the impending board examinations.
“The session is about to
end and the absence of teachers left us in a difficult situation. Our principal also expressed helplessness and we felt stranded,” said a student.

Only 10 teachers are posted in the school against 35 sanctioned posts and none of these 10 teachers were qualified enough to take senior secondary classes.
Moreover, the officers are quite excited about their new task.
IAS of 2013 batch, Divya who holds a BTech degree from IIT besides an MBA from IIM Bengaluru, said: “I joined services so that I am able to contribute directly to the society. This new opportunity allows me to achieve my goal in a much better way.”
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About the Author
Shailvee Sharda

Journalist with the Times of India since August 2004, Shailvee Sharda writes on Health, Culture and Politics. Having covered the length and breadth of UP, she brings stories that define elements like human survival and its struggle, faiths, perceptions and thought processes that govern the decision making in everyday life, during big events such as an election, tangible and non-tangible cultural legacy and the cost and economics of well-being. She keenly follows stories that celebrate hope and life in general.

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