Lack of teachers derails classes; exams on track

CONTRACTS OF ABOUT 700 GUEST TEACHERS WERE NOT RENEWED FOR THE SESSION DUE TO WHAT IS FEARED TO BE A PAUCITY OF FUNDS

NEWDELHI: Schools run by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North MCD) will hold exams for students in Class 1 and 2 this week, but parents allege that many institutes do not have teachers to conduct regular classes six months into the academic session.

Contracts of about 700 guest teachers were not renewed for the session beginning April 2018 due to what is feared to be paucity of funds. North MCD, whose jurisdiction extends from ISBT Kashmere Gate to Narela on the outskirts of outer Delhi, runs 760 schools with more than 250,000 students up to Class 5. In each of at least 400 schools, there were 20 guest teachers till the previous academic session that ended on March 10.

“Even after attending school for five months, my son cannot read a sentence properly. He has to write the Hindi examination on Tuesday,” said Shakoor Ali, the father of a Class 1 student at a school in the Bhalswa Dairy area.

North MCD conducted Class 5 examinations last week. Exams for Class 1 and 2 will begin on Tuesday. Class 3 and Class 4 tests are expected to be held later this month.

“Our children started skipping school because no teacher was available to take classes... and now they are told to write exams,” said Sheela Devi, the mother of a Class 3 student.

North MCD acknowledged that schools were faced with a crunch, but said steps were being taken to address the issue.

“We received data from the schools on August 31. Contracts of teachers will be renewed soon. We have recently renewed the contracts of around 150-200 teachers. We also made alternative arrangements such as transferring teachers according to a need basis,” said Yogendra Singh Mann, the spokesperson for North Delhi and East Delhi corporations.