Angry parents on Tuesday staged a protest and locked the main gate of a government primary school in Sirsa over shortage of teachers and the lack of clean drinking water, prompting the Education Department to seek an explanation from officials concerned.
The protest took place at the Government Girls Primary School in the Chattargarh Patti area on Nejadela Kalan road.
The parents alleged that studies were getting badly affected after the teachers were assigned the Census duty. They claimed that one teacher had been deputed to another school, while another teacher was engaged in the Census work, leaving the school functioning with limited staff.
Following the protest, the Education Department ordered teacher Rachna Saini, who had been deputed to a Khairpur school, to return to girls’ school.
Area councillor Advocate Chanchal Rani flagged shortcomings in the school functioning and alleged that the future of students studying in the slum-area school was in a peril.
She added that student strength had dropped sharply from around 180 last year to nearly 90 now. “Half the students leaving within a year raises serious questions over the functioning of the Education Department,” she said.
The parents alleged that the children were being forced to drink contaminated water as the cemented water tank on the campus was not cleaned regularly.
Block Education Officer (BEO) Ramesh Kumar admitted that the school was facing a drinking water problem. The BEO said a separate water pipeline had been laid from the Chattargarh Patti waterworks, but the supply to the school was affected as residents punctured the pipeline for illegal connections.
He said the school staff was arranging water tankers every one or two days for students. The Block Education Officer said the local groundwater was highly saline, causing rusting in the school’s water cooler. He added that the water cooler would be repaired soon.
District Elementary Education Officer Dr Vijay Lakshmi said officials were immediately sent to the spot after information about the protest was received.
She said the teacher deputed to another school had been recalled and the drinking water issue would be resolved soon. A report on the matter has been sent to the Deputy Commissioner, she added.
