Lessons in Negligence

More than 4,000 schools without regular teachers; 17,649 schools with just one teacher. THE WEEK takes a look at the pathetic state of school education in Madhya Pradesh.

- Deepak Tiwari

Residents of Dhaba village in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore district often talk of being part of VIP constituencies. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is their MLA and Union Minister Sushma Swaraj represents them in the Lok Sabha.

The village, which has a population of 2,794, has a primary and middle school. The primary school, which has classes 1 to 5, has 115 students but just one teacher in charge. The middle school (classes 6 to 8) has 57 children and no teacher.

Mahesh Bhalavi, the assistant teacher in charge of the primary school, looks after both the schools with the help of guest teachers. Most of the time, though, he is off visiting government offices to fill out more than a dozen registers that help keep a record for various agencies monitoring primary education in the village.

Bhalavi was on one such errand when THE WEEK visited the primary school. In his absence, a part time teacher, Lokesh Koli, was handling eight classes simultaneously. “The trick is very simple,” said Koli. “We put all primary school students in one classroom. Similarly, in the middle school, students of all classes are meant to sit in one room.”

This, however, takes a toll on attendance. “Because there are no teachers, the students, too, do not turn up,” said Bhairo Singh, a villager. Even if the teacher wants to keep each class in separate rooms, he cannot do so, as both the schools do not have adequate number of classrooms.