Acute Shortage Of Teachers Cripples Two Premier Schools Of Mangaldai

Our Correspondent

MANGALDAI: Mangaldai Government Higher Secondary School (MGHSS), the premier institution for higher education of the district founded in 1903 at the district headquarters, has been functioning without a regular Principal and Vice-Principal.

Further, the post of 13 assistant teachers in the High School section and seven posts of Assistant Teachers in Higher Secondary section have been lying vacant since quite a long. People in Mangaldai, including the alumni, have strongly criticized and condemned the indifferent attitude of the education department and the State Government. Due to the vacant posts, the performance of the students has been adversely affected.

MGHSS, the only secondary educational institution in the district completely run by the government, this year recorded the lowest ever average success rate in the HSLC final exam. The school reportedly has recorded an average pass percentage of 50.69 per cent against the district level figure of 67.93 per cent and State-level figure of 60. 23 per cent. Only 19 examinees secured first division while only two of them managed to secure star marks. Twenty five examinees passed in second division and the rest 29 in third division. The poor performance of the oldest secondary institution of Darrang district is a glaring reflection of the tall claims made by the education department.

Another premier institution for girl education, Mangaldai Town Girls’ HS School (MTGHSS), has also been facing similar crisis of inadequate teaching staff. Six posts of teachers in the high school section and three posts of subject teachers in the higher secondary section have been lying vacant in this school. However, the school managed to perform satisfactorily in the HSLC examination with an overall pass percentage of 85 per cent .

Out of the total of 144 successful examinees, 35 secured first division, 65 second and 44 third division respectively. Of these, one student secured distinction while seven others secured star marks. The result could have been much better had there been full strength of teachers. The vacancy of teachers is also going to affect the performance in the HS final exam, results of which are likely to be announced on May 25.

A number of the alumni of MGHSS, including lawyer Jayanta Deka, prominent entrepreneur Rajiv Kr Deka, senior media person Mayukh Goswami, Hemanta Barua, Hitesh Hazarika and Ganesh Dutta, while talking to The Sentinel, expressed deep concern over the apathy of the government in filling up the vacant posts of teachers in spite of repeated prayers and communication with the authority concerned, even the Education Minister.

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