Parents Lock Teachers Inside School In Odisha’s Kendrapada Protesting Staff Crunch

Kendrapada: Parents of children studying in a government high school at a village in Odisha’s Kendrapada district locked the teachers in the headmaster’s room protesting staff crunch.

The incident took place at Jayaram Government High School at Karilopatna village in the district on Saturday when the angry guardians took the step demanding the appointment of more teachers in the school to ensure proper teaching.

Sources said the school is being run by only 10 teachers since 2021 though there are 534 students from Class I to X. It needs at least 23 teachers but now it has only 10.

Several students and guardians alleged that teaching is severely affected as 10 teachers against the sanctioned teaching posts of 23 are handling over 534 students for more than two years.

The school neither has a peon nor a clerk. “Many locals on Saturday forcefully locked us in a room, demanding the appointment of more teachers and other staff. We informed this incident to the block education officer,” TOI quoted school headmaster Narayan Prasad Mantri as saying.

The teaching staff crunch has had an adverse effect on the quality of education and, in turn, on the students’ careers. Our repeated requests to address the issue have been falling on deaf ears,” said Sukant Sahoo, former sarpanch of Karilopatna gram panchayat during the protest.

Villagers said they will continue the agitation if the officials do not fulfill the demand for adequate number of teachers in the school.

Block Education Officer (BEO) of Marsaghai Prafulla Kumar Swain said that the authorities will soon appoint more teachers in the school.