Education blues: Come exams season, students in Bhara Kahu still await teachers

Fewer teachers are ready to serve in rural areas: officials.

ISLAMABAD:

In 79 educational institutions in Bhara Kahu, in the capital’s suburbs, 351 posts for teachers have been lying vacant for a number of years.

While those located in the city attract a surplus, the suburbs have remained neglected resulting in a skewed student-teacher ratio.

Some parents residing in rural areas while talking to The Express Tribune  didn’t see the point of sending their children to government schools due to the shortage of teachers.

Fewer teachers consent to serve in rural areas and the shortage has become particularly pronounced in the last couple of years, but the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has not taken any steps to rectify the situation yet, considering it is exam season, said a local.

Islamabad Model College for Girls (IMCG) Kot Hathial has 320 college students but there are only four teachers. “It is quite tough to manage a class of 80 students considering their number is soaring every year,” said one of the teachers.

In IMCG Chak Shahzad there are over 1,600 students, but not a single college teacher, so 200 of the college students are taught by schoolteachers. Similarly, Islamabad Model School for Girls (IMSG) Malot offers classes up to matric and has been granted the status of a secondary school but there are still no high school teachers. “We have been waiting for appointments for years,” said a teacher of the school on the condition of anonymity. The majority of teachers were reluctant to share information for fear of retaliation.

In IMSG Lakhwal, there are no science teachers for supervising lab experiments despite the fact that annual exams have begun. Schools in rural areas particularly face a shortage of science teachers. IMSG Nain Sukh, Bhara Kahu has 650 students in elementary school and only five teachers.

On the other hand, in some of the capital’s schools and colleges, IMCG Sector G-7/3-3 for instance, the number of students is 450 while there are 28 teachers.

Bhara Kahu Area Education Officer (AEO) Bashir Ahmad Arain said, “Teachers want to work in the city and they get temporary transfers from rural to Islamabad city which is why villages face an alarming shortage of teachers,” he said.

Arain was of the view that most teachers posted to rural areas are close to government officials and manage to serve in the city. “Many schools are in far-off areas, so female teacher avoid serving there,” he said. To overcome the shortage we’ve hired teachers for Rs 1,000 to 6,000 a month, he added. While the AEO was talking to The Express Tribune, a teacher from Islamabad Model School Pind Begwal was waiting outside for a transfer to the city.

CAD secretary Riffat Shaheen Qazi said she was looking to hire more teachers on a war footing but the ban on new appointments by the Election Commission had hindered the process. “Yes the situation in rural areas is much worse but I’ll look into this issue next week.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2013.