Hundreds of students from Subarnarekha Irrigation Project Composite School in Laxmiposi, within the jurisdiction of Laxmiposi police, in Odisha undertook a long walk on Monday, July 17, to meet District Collector Vineet Bhardwaj and highlight the issue of teacher shortage at their school. However, their journey was cut short when district administration officials and the school headmaster intercepted them after they had covered a distance of four kilometres, reports The New Indian Express. These officials convinced the students that their concerns would be addressed, which lead the students to return to school.
According to the report, on that day, as soon as the school opened, the students left the premises and started walking to meet the collector. Despite the efforts of the teachers to assure the students that their demand for more teachers would be taken up with higher authorities, the students did not pay heed.
They expressed their disappointment that even though the government had taken over the school five years ago, there was still a severe shortage of teachers. For a student strength of 339, there are only three teachers in the school who teach students from Class I to Class X. One of the teachers was assigned to manage the mid-day meal (MDM) programme.
Students share woes
"The two other teachers cannot cover all classes from Class I to Class X, due to which, courses remain incomplete every year, leading to bad performance by students in the examinations," the students told The New Indian Express.
Since there was no solution to our problem, we decided to meet the collector sir in Baripada and apprise him of our demand, they said
Sub-collector of Baripada, Iswar Chandra Naik, along with additional district education officers Diptimayee Nayak and Nityananda Barik, as well as the school's headmaster Jawarharlal Mohanta, intercepted the students when they had walked more than four kilometres. They assured the students that their demands would be addressed promptly. The officials arranged transportation for the students, and they returned to the school.
This incident comes just five days after students from Dudhiani Panchayat High School in Purunapani walked over 25 kilometres to meet the sub-collector of Karanjia in the Mayurbhanj district. They demanded an electricity connection, a new tube well, and the construction of a hostel, kitchen, and boundary for the school.
