Teachers in my village are bad models

Updated on: Monday, November 14, 2011

Established 75 years ago, the Kannada, Urdu and Hindi Medium School for Boys and Girls in Rangrez Galli in the old city, is seeing a steady decline in enrolment.

The government institution is among the oldest schools in the district. In 1990, there were 40 teachers and over 700 children. Now the school has nearly 300 students and 14 teachers. The Hindi medium school has been closed down.

The old building needs repair and maintenance. Its steel gates were stolen, and so were two wooden doors. Every class does not have furniture and there is no separate room for cooking the midday meal.

For the teachers of the school, the reason for the falling number of students is obvious. The Rangrez Galli school is surrounded by eight schools in a one km radius. Five of them are private institutions. “The Government's education policy says there should be a distance of at least one km between two schools. But it does not follow its own norms when permitting private schools,” said a teacher.

“Most parents who send their children to school are extremely poor. Some children still work in the farm and come to school only when agriculture activity is low,” says teacher Suvarna B.

It is not surprising therefore that Kanteppa Gumme, a tailor in Meeragunj village in Bidar taluk, sends his children to a private school in Bidar's Old City area. His wife works as a farm labourer. The Dalit family earns around Rs. 4,000 a month. “We shifted our children from a government school to this private school as the teachers there were indifferent to their work. Teachers in my village are bad models. Most have turned money lenders and they don't take their jobs seriously. Some are not found in schools for weeks,” he said.

Teachers in my village are bad models

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