Severe shortage of staff and teacher in secondary schools in Pune
11 May, 2013
An application was filed with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the status of manpower available with the corporation-run schools.
The reply from the corporation reveals that the many PMC schools are struggling with inadequacy of staff for their secondary sections. The data provided in the reply suggests that for PMC-run schools, there is only one teacher for 45 students of standard VIII, IX and X. The reply also reveals that the post of education officer for secondary schools has been lying vacant since the earlier officer joined the Pune division of Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education as secretary. The post is currently held by the PMC education officer who is also in-charge of PMC primary education and consultant for workers.
The education officer has told that despite the shortage of teachers, the corporation is managing the smooth running of schools by appointing teachers on contract basis. He claimed that out of 45 vacant seats of teachers, 31 have been filled by contractual teachers. He also stated that three posts of principals are lying vacant due to a government resolution which makes it mandatory to fill up the vacant posts of teachers first.
Many government institutions around the country suffer from such shortage of teachers and this RTI application is only an indicator of the state of affairs.