Learning curve

PTAs in Himachal recruit educated, unemployed youth to fill up vacancies for teachers in schools and colleges

Saraswati dropped out of school at 13 because there just weren’t any teachers. She went to school for seven months without being taught, and finally lost interest and gave up. Seven years later she was married, and now she has a six-year-old daughter, Kiran. Saraswati doesn’t want Kiran to suffer the same ordeal. So she is making sure that the government school in the remote village of Kullu is never short of staff. She is accomplishing this by being an active member of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).

It’s an unlikely concept, but one that is fast gaining momentum in the interiors of Himachal Pradesh. To tackle the perennial shortage of staff, the falling standards of education as well as the growing menace of unemployment, the proactive PTAs have come up with a unique solution. They are filling up vacancies in schools by appointing educated, unemployed, rural youth. In less than a year, more than 5,000 vacancies in schools and colleges have been filled up. The campaign has been so successful that the government has started a scheme to give a direct grant-in-aid to the PTAs for paying the teachers.

“The PTA is a universally recognised concept,” says Asha Kumari, former state education minister. “Nobody can question the right of PTAs to provide teachers in the schools if the situation warrants. This move has helped the government to ensure availability of teachers even in remote areas.”

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Despite its enviable record in literacy, most Himachal schools are short-staffed, with teachers in inaccessible areas reluctant to serve; they either remain absent or come once a month to draw their salaries. There have been instances where primary or middle-level schools are run by peons or part-time water carriers. “The scheme has helped provide teachers to those school which had never seen a single teacher in an entire year,” says Kuldeep Tanwar, president, Gyan Vigyan Samiti, an NGO working for literacy.

Till September 2006, there were 6,000 vacant posts in different categories, including those in elementary schools and colleges. The problem was compounded by a high court stay on fresh recruitments of para-teachers, contract appointments and TGTs. Despite the shortage, the government had opened 800 new middle schools and upgraded 300 middle schools to high schools in the past four years.

The worsening situation had the PTAs thinking. Soon, they came up with the plan to employ teachers at paltry sums of Rs 1,000 or Rs 1,500 per month which they raised on their own. The government too chipped in and allowed headmasters and principals to fill the available posts. and as the idea worked well, it started giving grant-in-aid to the PTAs—50 per cent of the basic salary and DA.

“Under the scheme, the PTAs have to raise a bill and the reimbursements are released accordingly. By now Rs 6 crore has been made available against the Rs 10 crore that we had asked for,” says B.M. Nanta, director, elementary education.

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Though the government claims it is an ad hoc arrangement, the teachers appointed by the PTAs have already formed a union and are demanding that they be absorbed against permanent vacancies. On the other hand, the teachers selected through the state’s Subordinate Selection Board who have completed their mandatory TGT training are wondering about their appointments.

“There is no indication that these teachers will be withdrawn as it’s an election year. The chief minister has already assured us that our interests will be protected and has even provided relaxations to enable the teachers to complete their BEd courses by 2010,” says Vivek Mehta, president, PTA Lecturers and Teachers Association.

The issue is already snowballing into a political controversy in the state, with allegations of MLAs and ministers influencing the appointments. “It’s a system devised by the Congress for offering back-doors jobs to its cadres,” says former BJP chief minister, P.K. Dhumal.

If the allegations hold true, it may not bode well for the unique concept. People like Saraswati are banking on it to ensure a bright future for their children.