Primary schools run like family business

talkIndia · Site Admin Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 153

In government schools, one often finds that teachers are not necessarily better educated than students and often running a school is a family business. For instance, as per education department records, all seven teachers of the Dwarikanath Hindi Primary School including Principal Santram Yadav are from the same family.

Moreover, none of them have studied beyond the tenth standard and run the school as they please. For instance, as the clerk at the school, Babulal Yadav, confirmed, the family might go home hours before the closing bell, resulting in no classes for the children.

NDTV: Do all these people teach here? Geeta Jadhav, Ruta Jadhav, Dharmendra Jadhav, Juna Jadhav, Santram Jadhav, Lalsaheb and Santram Jadhav?

Babulal: Yes.
NDTV: Who is the principal?
Babulal: RR Jadhav.
NDTV: Where is he?
Babulal: At his bungalow.
NDTV: Are there no other teachers here?
Babulal: No. The head clerk is here, but he's sleeping.
NDTV: What's his name?
Babulal: Rajaram Jadhav.
NDTV: Can you call him?
Babulal: Let me see.

However, Rajaram Yadav was enjoying a siesta after lunch until the NDTV team woke him up.

NDTV: Which standards do these teachers teach?
Rajaram: Class I to VI.
NDTV: Are they all from the same family?
Rajaram: What? No, no.
NDTV: Who's the principal?
Rajaram: SS Jadhav.
NDTV: Santam Jadhav? Where is he?
Rajaram: At home.
NDTV: All of them are SSC pass?
Rajaram: Yes.

The situation, in fact, is actually worse than merely what meets the eye. The primary school also admits students in class XI and XII and the same teachers who have not studied beyond class X teach them. A B.Ed degree or a Primary Teachers' Course diploma is a minimum qualification to teach in a primary school.

However, the teachers at Dwarikanath clearly have none but continue to enjoy salaries that are meant for B.Ed qualifiers. Another example of a family run school is the Ashish Primary School. Not only is DN Verma the founder and administrator of the school, but if school records are to be believed, then he has even passed his SSC exams from the school. Moreover, his two daughters Poonam and Suman are the principal and the vice-principal, respectively, while their cousins Sabita, Madhu, and Bindu are the teachers.

Improper records

Ironically, all of them passed out from the Ashish Primary School, and if that's not enough, Poonam had passed her SSC in 1994. But the school register shows that she was born in 1987, which means that she has been teaching since she was seven. Also, her sister Suman's records indicate that she passed out and started teaching at eight.

NDTV: Poonam Kumari was born in 1987. But she started teaching in in 1994. Suman Kumari was born in 1988 and started teaching in 1996, when she was eight. These are the records you have submitted to the Education Department.

Verma: The clerk has made a mistake. It's not deliberate. I am telling you, it's just a slip-up, not a fraud. I'll call her right now. Everything is perfect. I can explain everything.

Verma: Let me assure you, we will rectify the dates. She is my daughter. So there is no fraud. I swear by God. There is no fraud.

Lack of qualification

In 471 schools in the Ahmedabad district, most teachers are underqualified. In 15 of them, teachers have studied only up to Class X or XII. In 38 schools, 50 per cent of the teachers exist only on paper, and only three schools have qualified staff.

Although State Education Minister Anandiben Patel and Education Secretary Rajiv Gupta refused to comment on the matter, activists who are going to court against the mess say that it is an outrage. "I have evidence that in many schools 70 per cent teachers are not qualified. A survey of 10-12 schools show most teachers are just SSC or HSC pass, but have been teaching for years."

"There are some who are supposedly born in 1987 but have started teaching in 1994, or were born between 1984 and 1988 and have joined their jobs between 1994 and 1997," said Vinod Pandya, Primary School Teachers' Association. Even as Ahmedabad makes a name for itself for its world-class educational institutes, Dwarikanath shows that primary education is in the pits. Source : NDTV.

mercy · Newbie Joined: 11 Aug 2006 Posts: 1

I watched this exclusive episode in NDTV. And no need to watch such shows in TVs. In real life, in our next door , we can feel the same. Education is like a business.
Our Govt should take some serious steps to regularise this.

talkIndia · Site Admin Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 153

You're right. In a developing country like India, nothing is more important than ensuring a high quality of education. This is the best investment our govt. can make; the upcoming generation is the one that will represent India and take it forward. Our govt. apparently doesnt realize this and isnt taking this issue seriously.

shabss · Junior Member Joined: 28 May 2008 Posts: 22

hmmm... rite....