HimVani
Shimla: The political lot in Himachal Pradesh may gloat about official figures placing the state high up on the list of achievers in the field of elementary education, but the reality was exposed threadbare on Monday when three fake teachers employed on contract by actual teachers were caught by a team of State Anti-corruption Bureau in Shillai area of Sirmaur.
The vigilance team swooped down on three schools in the area and could not find any teachers there. What they found were teachers hired on contract by these teachers to do the teaching on their behalf, after which four teachers were booked. In one case the teacher was found running a shop in his native village, while in another a teacher found absent was said to be running a coaching centre at Paonta Sahib. Director, elementary education, Suneel Chaudhary said that the department had received the complaints about two months back and action was taken accordingly.
Sources in the vigilance said they had been receiving complaints that in many rural schools hiring another person on nominal charges was helping regular teachers avoid serving in hard areas. There are also reports that teachers having influence in the education department or politics remain absent for long and are not even marked absent. So the bigger question being, why was the education department sitting with its eyes closed?
Principal secretary, education, PC Dhiman said the department was serious about such findings and would ensure that such “findings do not come to the fore again”. Now does that mean they should be hushed up? When asked if it was failure of the education department, he said, “Nobody can go and check schools in remote areas like the one where these cases were found, but in future we will ensure that such things so not happen.” The education minister’s could not be contacted for his reaction as his mobile was not responding. But he cannot be expected to give any different answer, so we can well imagine that in tribal areas a quack may well be doing duty for a MBBS doctor in a primary health centre. But do we care?
It is shame on the entire educational system of the Himachal Pradesh, perhaps the only example in our country. Is it the duty of vigilance department to check everything? Where is the whole brigade of BEO, DEO, Assistant Director, Deputy Director, Joint Director, Additional Director, Director, Deputy Secretary, Joint Secretary, Special Secretary, and Principal Secretary?
There is no accountability in the system. Everyone is busy in politics and related short cuts. It is not only the teachers who are to be blamed but the whole brigade of officers, who are there to see the education system function properly. All in the line must be put under suspension. It seems that the whole channel is created just to give promotional benefits and strengthen the red tape and do nothing. Collective responsibility is no one’s responsibility.
"An inquiry is ordered and appropriate action will be taken against the people found guilty", this is a standard dialogue of non-performing bosses in the state. In a state where everything is highly politicized, the situation can only be improved, if we get a dynamic and visionary leadership. Unfortunately, we did not find anyone with that calibre.
God take this small and beautiful state out from such a curse!
Another PMT paper leak in news! …..enquiry……arrests…..bail……and ….nothing.
It seems our mai-baap are hell bent on adopting the UP-Bihar model of governance. What sort of governance can be expected when the chief minister is busy doling out transfer orders leaving no time to pursue other matters. The government has been reduced to <big>GovernMint</big> and each and every person associated with governance is busy minting the system.
Here is a link to the organisational chart of Education deptt. http://www.educationhp.org/dept_organisational-se… I wonder if any of the babus have ever ventured out of their offices in their life time.
Really these things do not matters to the boses of government. you can see another cases of teachers which didnts teaches till today from their appointments. because there are no students in institutions. like in Bharmour college where two science teacher are appointed but didnts teaches their subjects since from 3 years. who will bothers…….and why.
earlier one would hear of patwaris engaging retired hands for doing revenue work in the field, in some of the states , now teachers have also joined the bandwagon and we expect better results from our children even if they are left to the mercy of these"kiraye ke teachers". whither our country?
I think we all have to look at the root of the problem. Teachers not showing up at schools, appointing others to proxy for them etc are the symptoms of the problem, and not the problem instead. Let us consider this point- Why are people in the government departments like Education asked to leave their families and work in far away places? Is it not OK to train local people to serve at various position available in their own localities, instead of asking somebody whose family is in say Solan to leave them and go to teach at some interior place in say Lahaul and Spiti district. What are the incentives for such a person to go there- Is it a handsome salary? great perks? or maybe superb facilities provided by the department……what these teachers did is by no means justifiable, but what they did cannot be said to be completely unnatural. Offcourse, human greed and selfishness can never be ruled out or glorified. It is all a question of incentives. we can't be emotional about this matter. We have to be pragmatic and find solutions so that it is the persons incentives that drives his actions in the right direction and not moral or social directives.
The contents in support of concerns made by Mr. Gupta are disheartening . Certainly we need to work out the methodology of appointments . In the begining of the career we may expect for younger generation to serve in hard areas . Therefore appointing teachers on every year basis may serve the purpose.
Govt should actively start recruiting teachers in FEB every year through a consolidated HIMACHAL EDUCATION SERVICES EXAMINATION . Year on year appointments will reduce the tennure of people serving in Hard areas and increase their interest more in work .
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