Gohrina, Principal of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nehru Garden, stated, “We have had to suspend classes for Class IX to XII since, out of 94 teachers in our school, 86 have been sent for Census training.
Regular classes in government schools throughout Jalandhar were disrupted on Monday asmanyteachers were removed from classrooms for Census training. As schools face challenges in maintaining academic activities, the authorities either canceled classes or combined two or three classes into one room. Multiple students were observed departing early when their instructors were absent to lead their lessons.
To address the crisis, schools enlisted B.Ed trainees as a temporary solution to handle several classes at once, frequently without specific subject assignments. Nevertheless, officials noted that this did little to alleviate the strain on schools that were already lacking personnel.
Even though the district Education Department kept a few teachers in schools where the whole staff was assigned to Census tasks, the circumstances remained bleak. As per the official list, various schools, such as School of Eminence, Maqsudan; Government Senior Secondary School, Ladhewali; and Government Senior Secondary School, Heran, among others, have had all their staff participate in the three-day Census training that commenced today.
Gohrina, Principal of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Nehru Garden, stated, “We have had to suspend classes for Class IX to XII since, out of 94 teachers in our school, 86 have been sent for Census training. Our school has a strength of around 2,500 students. With only eight teachers left, we are unable to manage higher classes, so we are calling only students from Classes VI to VIII.”
She mentioned that the situation has deterioratedevenmore,with four of the eight remaining teachers involved in the admission process. “Essentially, we haveonly a handful of teachers to oversee thousands of students.”
She stated, “We have no choice but to conduct two or three classes in one location.”
Likewise,aninstructorfromGovernmentSeniorSecondarySchool,LadhewaliRoad,remarked,“NumerousschoolsinJalandharhavenothadasingleteacherassigned to Censusduty,whileinothers,thewholestaffhasbeenremoved.”Itisunreasonable. Eventhoseemployedby the DEOoffice are stillrequiredtoperform Census duties,meaningthatwhenthe Census work starts, schools will lack teachers to conduct classes.
Tajinder Singh, Principal of Government Senior Secondary School, Ladhewali, said, “All 30 teachers in my school were called for the training. Following a request, the DEO office kept just seven teachers. Clearly, managing 600 students with only seven teachers is challenging.
A senior instructor from School of Eminence, Maqsudan, stated, “Our institution has 40 educators, all of whom were sent for Census training. Following our concern, 16 teachers were kept. However, with more than 700 students, this setup is still inadequate for conducting classes efficiently.”
Simultaneous responsibilities causing Schools to struggle
Even schools with a small staff of only two or three teachers have not been exempt. Notably, teachers who act as Block Level Officers (BLOs) have been given responsibilities for the Census too.
At Killi Government Middle School in Shahkot, only three educators are assigned. Out of these, two have been assigned to Census tasks while the third is occupied with BLO responsibilities, essentially leaving the entire school without any teachers to hold classes.
Likewise, at Government Middle School in Lallian Khurd, both educators have been tasked with Census duty, causing classroom instruction to abruptly cease.
At Bashesharpur Government Middle School, the circumstances are even more severe. The sole teacher, already managing BLO duties, has been assigned to Census work, leaving the entire school entirely unmonitored.
