Team Herald
PONDA: With their demand for adequate number of teachers at the government primary school in Usgao Dhavshirem bearing no fruit, the angry members of the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) and the students boycotted classes on Saturday.
The parents say lack of teachers at the school was affecting the learning of their children.
PTA Chairman Ulhas Satarkar said fed up with temporary arrangement of teachers they had launched an agitation in July this year and as again the vacancies for two teachers are caused due to transfer of teachers, the parents and the students boycotted classes on Saturday.
He said that the parents have decided to continue the boycott on Monday. “If the Education Department fails to fill the two vacancies, then the parents and students will not only stage a dharna but also to confront theb Assistant District Educational Inspector (ADEI) at Ponda on Tuesday to press for their demand of permanent teachers. We will also seek clarification for shortages of teachers throughout the year,” he said.
Satarkar said that the student strength of the school is 83; five teachers, including an English teacher, have been sanctioned for the school. “But most of time, the school is managed by only three teachers and since past couple of years we have been agitating for filling the vacancies of two teachers,” he said.
And recently, he said, one of the three teachers is frequently transferred or sent for training leaving the school with just two teachers.
“When a teacher is posted at Dhavshirem, using political influence, he/she often manages to get transfer to the nearest place of his/her residence, leaving the students without teachers,” he said.
In absence of teachers, first and fourth standard students are grouped in one class and second and third standard students are accommodated in another class.
