Aasu unhappy with dearth of government school teachers in Jorhat

JORHAT: The All Assam Students' Union ( Aasu ) on Monday criticised the state government for it's "failure" to provide adequate number of teachers in government-run lower primary schools in Jorhat district. They demanded that adequate number of teachers be appointed in all these schools at the earliest.

Aasu said at a time when the Centre is speaking about 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikash' and 'Education for all' programmes across the country, hundreds of school-going children from poor families in Jorhat district do not have access to proper education due to lack of teachers in their schools.

In a statement, Aasu said, "In Jorhat district, 152 lower primary schools have just one teacher each. Due to shortage of teachers, hundreds of poor children in the age group of 6 to 10 do not have access to proper education."

Aasu Jorhat district general secretary Jitu Neog said, "Families from a good financial background generally send their children to private educational institutions. It is the poor families that have no alternative than to send their children to government school. Out of the 300 lower primary government schools in Jorhat, 152 are functioning with a single teacher." He added, "There are many schools in the district where a single teacher has been teaching all subjects to more than 50 students of different classes. If such a situation continues, the situation looks very bleak for hundreds of children. And we have only government apathy to blame."