JANTNAMA NEWS BHUWAN JOSHI UTTRAKHAND
The Uttarakhand Education Department appears to have decided that the standard of instruction at the state’s Atal Excellent Schools shall continue to be as low as it was the previous year. This is because Atal Vidyalayas began the hiring process for vacant teaching positions in April 2023. After 4-5 months, in September 2023, the department performed the screening exam. The results were announced, and on January 2 and 3, 2024, counselling took place. However, the department has not yet been able to decide whether to appoint teachers to these vacant positions. Nevertheless, no explanation has been provided for the department’s inability to determine whether or not teachers should be assigned to these vacant positions. Parents and children at these schools are unhappy and frustrated as a result of the department’s uncertainty and indecision. Perhaps there is a lack of awareness of the backdrop of the education loss that is taking place.
Keeping all these things in mind, applications were invited for about 530 vacant lecturer posts and 298 assistant teacher posts in these schools in the year April 2023. The examination which was supposed to be completed in barely a month, was conducted in the month of September due to departmental delay. Despite the results of the examination being declared in the month of October, again due to departmental delay, with great difficulty, on 2nd and 3rd January 2024, teachers from all over the state were called and counseling was done for these posts in Nainital, Dehradun.
But even after so much time has passed, these selected teachers have not been given posting yet. In the year 2021, the entire process was completed in just one month and the selected teachers were posted by the month of July.
This scheme, started in the name of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had raised a hope of education in English medium among the resourceless students from rural background. But due to such a large number of vacant posts, this scheme seems to be deviating from its target. If we look at the figures, out of 150 vacant posts in Atal Vidyalayas in Kumaon division, 129 are schools in hilly, inaccessible areas. Similarly, out of 148 vacant posts in Garhwal division, 117 are vacant in schools of inaccessible hilly areas. In the lecturer cadre, there are 530 vacancies in these schools across the state, out of which 471 are in schools in hilly areas. The remaining plain schools are also facing shortage of teachers despite huge student population.
The biggest measure of the excellence of schools is the number of teachers in them. It has been almost 10 months since the academic session started but teachers have not been posted on the posts of most of the subjects. In such a situation, both the future of the students and the appointment of selected teachers in the schools built in the name of former Prime Minister Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee are under question. And this is not only about this session. If these schools do not get teachers soon, then due to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, these students may have to wait for the next four months, which will be very disappointing for their future. From all these things, it seems that these schools are The dream of providing quality education to the poor rural background children of the state through this medium is going to remain only a dream.
All the students and parents request the Uttarakhand government to immediately appoint teachers in Atal Excellent Schools without wasting time so that the teaching and learning work in these schools can run smoothly.