In a recent petition, it has been brought to light that a school in the suburbs of Coimbatore city in Tamil Nadu does not have a Mathematics teacher. Several parents have alleged that even after they submitted a petition for a Mathematics teacher to be deployed in the Panchayat Union Middle School (PUMS) located in the Perur block of the Chettipalayam region, the school continues to be short of the subject teacher.
The parents have claimed that the concerned educational officers were lethargic and have not taken any steps, despite their petition. As many as 400 students from Classes I to VIII are currently studying in this school, as reported by ENS.
A parent, who did not want to be named, said, "As many as 135 students are in Classes VI to VIII in the school. Teachers are there in the school to handle Tamil, Mathematics, Social Science and English. But as the Mathematics teacher regularly goes for QR code preparation work (for the subjects at the District Institute of Education & Training - DIET) without coming to school, students are suffering without learning Mathematics subjects for the last four years. They are weak in the subject without learning anything. Due to the education loss, they will not perform well in class IX, X classes in high school."
"Regarding this, parents submitted petitions with the district school education department many times. Officers assured that a Mathematics teacher will be deployed in the school. But they have not taken any steps so far. If they fail to deploy a teacher or take any other step, we would protest considering the students' education," he warned, as per the ENS report.
The other teachers from the school have confirmed this matter. Tamil Nadu Elementary School Teacher Federation District Secretary C Arasu said that not only this particular school teacher but nearly 20 teachers in the district have been deployed in QR code work and some teachers even get continuation orders for this work, due to which they do not come to schools. When contacted by ENS, Perur Education District Officer (in charge) G Ramesh said, "I will inquire about it and steps would be taken on it."