UMERKOTE: Adarsha Vidyalayas (AV), introduced with the aim to foster quality English-medium education for children from lower-income families, are battling staff shortage in Nabarangpur district affecting students’ education and drawing ire of parents.
There are 10 AVs in the district, one in each block with student strength of around 400 from Class VI to X. As per reports, only three to four teachers are available in each school against the sanctioned strength of 11.
This is posing problems as the teachers are made to teach other subjects besides their own specialisations. Adding to the woes, lectures for Classes IX and X are streamed on YouTube as per the government guidelines due to the prevailing pandemic. Sources said, most teacher posts for English, Mathematics and Science are lying vacant in almost all AVs in the district. Besides, none of the schools has permanent principals.
AVs first started in Umerkote and Nabarangpur towns in 2015. As they came up in remaining blocks in the subsequent years, local residents were hopeful of their children having access to good education.
But six years down the line, their hopes are dashed as the schools are grappling with shortage of teachers. Concerned, parents have alleged that the teaching staff shortage has impacted quality of education in the government schools and said they would resort to protests if the situation doesn’t improve.
President of district parents’ committee Nagesh Patnaik said,”If required number of teachers are not posted in all AVs within a month, we will take to the streets.”
On the other hand, AVs in four blocks - Nabarangpur, Umerkote, Kosagumuda and Raighar - were upgraded to introduce Plus 2 classes, two years back. Contacted, district education officer (DEO) Chandra Sekhar Panigrahi said interview process for teachers has started and the schools will soon have necessary staff. These model CBSE-affiliated English medium schools were set up in 2015 by the State government, along the lines of Kendriya Vidyalayas.