Sir,
There has been a lot of hue and cry over the recent transfers and postings of teachers, masters and Principals, with protests being staged by people in the rural areas at many places. Even many PRIs too have expressed concern over the shortage of staff in the schools falling in the rural areas. There is no doubt that education is a potent weapon of social change and quality education is the birth right of every student. But unfortunately, a large no of schools, especially in the remote and far flung areas, are often faced with the shortage of staff, thus adversely affecting the teaching learning activities of the students. As such, quality education remains a distant dream for the hapless students who study in such schools. They can’t compete with their counterparts studying in private and government schools located in towns and cities, having sufficient staff in schools.The irony is that many teachers and lecturers, selected under RBA/ALC Category, don’t prefer to serve in the notified ALC/RBA areas and manage their postings in cities & towns. Therefore, it is time that the concerned authorities realised the need of posting adequate teaching and non teaching staff in the rural areas. Attachments of teaching/ non teaching staff in SED or any other Department, if any, must be cancelled and staff posted in the schools. Teachers and lecturers, selected on the basis of RBA/ALC category must be compulsorily posted for a minimum of seven years in the RBA /ALC locality on the basis of which they are selected. There ought to be a rational transfer policy, mandating every teacher/ HOI to serve in far flung areas for a minimum of five to ten years. PRIs must be actively involved in the conduct of educational activities in rural areas. India lives in the villages and unless teaching learning activities are effectively conducted in schools falling in rural and hilly areas, we can’t achieve the cherished objective of ‘Quality Education for All.’
Ashok Sharma,
Housing Colony, Udhampur.
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