Students clean schools due to lack of non-teaching staff 69% of schools don’t have regular peons who maintain cleanliness, finds survey

In a survey conducted by Bal Hakk Abhiyan (BHA), a non-governmental organisation, students are working as cleaners to clean toilets and classrooms in staterun schools due to lack of non-teaching staff. Around 69 per cent of the schools do not have regular peons or nanis who maintain cleanliness and check maintenance of infrastructure.

The non-teaching staff has not been appointed due to lack of government funding as there is no provision for recruitment. B P Suryawanshi, state programme head of BHA, said, “We have seen students and teachers cleaning toilets in some schools because there are no peons or nanis. The state has no provisions to hire non-teaching staff and students have to bear the brunt for it.”

Lack of government funds has affected recruitment of full-time headmasters in various state-run schools show the results of a survey conducted by BHA along with Child Rights and You (CRY), reveals, out of 122 schools in Maharashtra, nearly 57 per cent do not have a full time headmaster.

BHA conducted a survey of 122 schools in eight districts of Maharashtra covering around 11,300 students. Schools are not following 10 indicators like availability of school building, teaching staff, library, drinking water, separate kitchen shed, playground, provisions for training of teachers, status of toilet facilities, admission denied to children and functioning of school management committee. “These norms are as per the Right to Education (RTE) Act and need to be followed by schools. But the state government has not conducted a survey to check if schools are following these norms which is leading to violation,” Suryawanshi added.

The survey report will be submitted to the state education ministry for further action. Important issues like lack of full-time headmasters in schools, availability of clean toilets and water supply should be resolved on a priority basis as per BHA.

The non-teaching staff has not been appointed due to lack of government funding as there is no provision for recruitment