Prized profession: Teaching a way of life in this Sangrur village
CALL OF DUTY
SANGRUR : Gularhi, the last village of Punjab before the Haryana border and around 59 km away from Sangrur, has government school teachers at almost every third house.
The village, with a population of 3,400, has 600 houses and over 200 government school teachers. They all are posted at various government schools in Punjab and Haryana. Besides, dozens of locals are also preparing for the two-year Elementary Teacher Training (ETT) diploma to follow in the footsteps of their neighbours.
Locals said almost every parent desired that their children pursued teaching as a profession, as most of them were marginal farmers. For them, there are only two viable government jobs – either teaching or the armed forces. Therefore, apart from teachers, over 20 people in the village are also serving in the Indian Army.
Training new crop of teachers
The government employees of the village have formed a Gram Sudhar Samiti for the welfare of local residents and development of the village. Whenever teaching jobs are advertised, the committee also provides coaching to job aspirants. It also hires teachers to prepare them for competitive exams.
Rajesh Kumar, sarpanch of the village and also president of the committee, said, “It was 30 years ago when a youth from our village became the first resident to bag a government teaching job. It was a big deal for our backward village. As the word of his job spread in the village, he became a topic of discussion at every home. Inspired by him, parents and youth were drawn to the teaching profession.”
“Hence, they started preparing for the Teacher Eligibility
Test (TET) at coaching centres of Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana. Later, youth from our village also started preparing for other government jobs. Now, apart from teaching, our residents are also serving in the army and in the PSPCL. They have even reached the ranks of Lieutenant Colonels and subdivisional officers,” said the proud sarpanch.
Ramphal Sashtri, who is posted at Government Primary School at the nearby Mandvi village, said, “We are marginal farmers, who hold less than three acres. Therefore, government jobs are the only option to earn a decent livelihood. Besides, to get the job of a government teacher, one needs to just clear Class 12 and the ETT diploma, before sitting for the
TET, while for other professions, one needs to have graduate and post-graduate degrees.”
Posted near and far Tarsem Singh from the village is among the 6,635 ETT teachers recently recruited by the government.
Deployed at Government Primary School at Kiratpur Sahib, Rupnagar, he said around 20 youths from the village got the jobs.
“The teachers from our village, who joined the service before us, are working at nearby schools, while we have been posted far away from home. Like me, other newly recruited teachers of my village have been posted as far as Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Jalandhar,” said Tarsem.