Overstaffed urban and understaffed rural schools raise concerns in Nazira

A CORRESPONDENT

NAZIRA: The Nazira Co-District Primary Education Block oversees 319 Lower Primary, Middle English, and Middle schools across Nazira. Although the block employs nearly a thousand teachers, the total student enrolment stands at only 27,077 - an average of about 84 students per school.

Government norms stipulate a teacher student ratio of 1:30. By that calculation, Nazira should have roughly 903 teachers for 27,077 students. Instead, the block has around 1,200 teachers, a surplus of several hundred.

However, the distribution is highly uneven. Schools in urban and accessible areas are often over staffed, while remote, peripheral schools suffer from a severe shortage of teachers. This disparity is dragging down the overall quality of education.

Adding to the crisis, student numbers in the Assamese medium government schools are declining sharply. Despite crores of rupees being spent on infrastructure and salaries, the schools fail to attract parents. Many guardians deliberately enrol their children in private schools; even teachers working in government schools send their own kids to private institutions - a stark indicator of the low standards.

In response to an application filed under the Right to Information Act, 2005, seeking details of funds allocated and spent by the government under Samagra Shiksha for the 319 Lower Primary, Middle English, and Middle schools of Nazira Primary Education Block, the Block Office could not furnish any information.

The fact that there is no record of fund allocation and expenditure in the office is ridiculous and mysterious. The department also refused to share specific figures for student and teacher numbers for each school, raising suspicions of data concealment.

Due to the heavy administrative overhead functioning, government schools have lost their quality standards. Instead of delivering service, they have turned into unprofessional, business like operations in many areas. As a result of this decline in quality, government schools are closing down one after another.

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