(This post was sent as a press release by the MKSS to various news forums)
Bhim, Rajasthan: Agitating against the gender bias prevalent in the public education system of Rajasthan, more than 1200 students of three government-run girls' schools held street protests on Thursday.
They were protesting against a serious paucity of teaching staff in their schools.
Separate protests were held outside the government girls' senior secondary schools in Bhim and Barar and the government girls' secondary school in Diver, all of which fall in the Rajsamand district.
The girls came at 7 am when the school opens, locked the school gates and sat on a dharna outside on the road.
They shouted slogans and gave speeches on the dismal quality of education imparted particularly in girls' schools in rural Rajasthan.
The protests were sparked after years of neglect over appointment of teachers on sanctioned posts by the state education department. All the three schools have been functioning in the absence of 70 per cent of the teaching staff.
The lack of other facilities such as science and computer labs, library and sports coaching has further worsened the already abominable quality of public education for girls.
In comparison, boys’ schools in all the three areas have been declared as ‘adarsh’ schools by the government. This means that boys’ schools will be developed as model schools with first-rate teaching and other facilities.
"लड़कों का स्कूल आदर्श बना, हमारा क्यों नहीं?," was one of the slogans that echoed across the dharna and road rallies held later during the day.
Despite protests held last October, the government girls’ higher secondary school at Bhim does not have a single grade one teacher or professor to teach the nine subjects it offers for standards 11 and 12.
As a disturbing consequence, the passing percentage at the Bhim girls’ school (2014-15 batch) stood at 53 % for standard 10 and 44 % for standard 12.
The students have no professors for political science since the past 17 years and for home science since the past 13 years. There are also no professors for history and geography.
On the other hand, the government boys’ higher secondary school at Bhim, has a strong teaching staff of seventeen while the girls’ school has a staff of just four teachers.
Last year, the government girls’ secondary school at Dewair just had one teacher for more than 300 students, from standards 1 to 10.
There was much chaos during the protest at Bhim as the police issued threats to the girls to stop the dharna or face action.
As the girls continued undeterred, the sub-divisional magistrate and the block education officer agreed to hold a meeting with the girls. A delegation of five students from each of the three schools met the officials and demanded written orders on appointments of teachers.
When the Bhim school girls had held a dharna last October, the government had appointed four new teachers on deputation who were transferred out within two months.
This time, students demanded that permanent appointments be made by the state education department.
The block primary education officer issued an order on Thursday announcing appointments of new teachers for Hindi, History, Political Science, Geography and Science/Maths at the Bhim girls' school.
The Barar and Dewair girls' schools also got three new teachers each.
Bhim, Rajasthan: Agitating against the gender bias prevalent in the public education system of Rajasthan, more than 1200 students of three government-run girls' schools held street protests on Thursday.
They were protesting against a serious paucity of teaching staff in their schools.
Separate protests were held outside the government girls' senior secondary schools in Bhim and Barar and the government girls' secondary school in Diver, all of which fall in the Rajsamand district.
The girls came at 7 am when the school opens, locked the school gates and sat on a dharna outside on the road.
They shouted slogans and gave speeches on the dismal quality of education imparted particularly in girls' schools in rural Rajasthan.
The protests were sparked after years of neglect over appointment of teachers on sanctioned posts by the state education department. All the three schools have been functioning in the absence of 70 per cent of the teaching staff.
The lack of other facilities such as science and computer labs, library and sports coaching has further worsened the already abominable quality of public education for girls.
In comparison, boys’ schools in all the three areas have been declared as ‘adarsh’ schools by the government. This means that boys’ schools will be developed as model schools with first-rate teaching and other facilities.
"लड़कों का स्कूल आदर्श बना, हमारा क्यों नहीं?," was one of the slogans that echoed across the dharna and road rallies held later during the day.
Despite protests held last October, the government girls’ higher secondary school at Bhim does not have a single grade one teacher or professor to teach the nine subjects it offers for standards 11 and 12.
As a disturbing consequence, the passing percentage at the Bhim girls’ school (2014-15 batch) stood at 53 % for standard 10 and 44 % for standard 12.
The students have no professors for political science since the past 17 years and for home science since the past 13 years. There are also no professors for history and geography.
On the other hand, the government boys’ higher secondary school at Bhim, has a strong teaching staff of seventeen while the girls’ school has a staff of just four teachers.
Last year, the government girls’ secondary school at Dewair just had one teacher for more than 300 students, from standards 1 to 10.
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| Scenes outside the government secondary school, Dewair Photos by Avinash Kumar |
The passing percentage at the school of standard 10 students (2014-15) batch was a poor 50 per cent.Students of the Barar girls' school have held protests twice in 2013 and 2011 to not much avail, which angered them further on Thursday.
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As the girls continued undeterred, the sub-divisional magistrate and the block education officer agreed to hold a meeting with the girls. A delegation of five students from each of the three schools met the officials and demanded written orders on appointments of teachers.
When the Bhim school girls had held a dharna last October, the government had appointed four new teachers on deputation who were transferred out within two months.
This time, students demanded that permanent appointments be made by the state education department.
The block primary education officer issued an order on Thursday announcing appointments of new teachers for Hindi, History, Political Science, Geography and Science/Maths at the Bhim girls' school.
The Barar and Dewair girls' schools also got three new teachers each.
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