At Samba school, 6 teachers were posted for 1 student

Sounds incredible, but it is true. Six highly qualified teachers were deployed to teach one student of Class VIII at a government school in Samba district. Ironically, the student for whom the six teachers were appointed could not even spell his name properly.

After facing embarrassment for this unique teacher-student ratio, the authorities have ultimately merged the school with a nearby institute.

This 6:1 teacher-student ratio was going on for a couple of years as higher authorities in the education department were in a slumber and were more concerned about providing prized postings to teachers of influential families. Reports said six teachers were appointed at Government Middle School, Jamora, in Samba district to teach a single student who was studying in Class VIII. As the school was situated near Mansar Dhar Road, which is a highway connecting Samba district with Udhampur, the teachers enjoyed postings on this prime location.

Despite repeated attempts, the Chief Education Officer of Samba was not available for a comment as his mobile was switched off.

Although no senior officer of the education department was ready to speak on the issue, the school was recently merged within a nearby government institute when villagers brought the matter before the local media. A video which went viral on the social media showed that the only student of the school was unable to write the spellings of Monday and his own name when asked by some persons.

“Some months back, the school, having six teachers for one student, was combined with another institute situated in the adjoining areas and all the teachers were adjusted in other schools to meet the shortage of teaching staff,” a source said, adding, “The functioning of the Jamora school has exposed the prevailing mess in the department as influential teachers have been posted in the school ”.

Most schools situated within city limits are over-staffed while there is shortage of teachers in government-run educational institutes functioning in the border areas.