11BHUKendrapada-Students protest skipping mid-day meals and returning uniforms school due to shortage of teachers | Bhubaneswar News

— Attachment Content: 11BHUKendrapada-_SCHOOL.docx —11.2.26 with two photosStudents protest skipping mid-day meals and returning uniforms school due to shortage of teachersAshis SenapatiTNNKendrapada: Around 300 students of Kakharuni Upper Primary school at Kaharuni village in Kendrapada district on Wednesday skipped mid-day meals and returned their school dresses in a unique way of protest against the non- appointment of fmore teachers in the school. The school has been run by only four teachers for the last nine months. Many guardians told their children to skip mid-day meals and return their school dresses supplied by the authorities to press their demands. School has 310 students from class one to eight . School needs nine teachers . But now the school has only four teachers. Many students and guardians alleged that four teachers against the sanctioned teaching posts of nine are teaching over300 students from class one to eight.“ The teaching staff crunch has had an adverse impact on the quality of education and, in turn, on the students’ career. Our repeated requests to address the issue have been falling on deaf ears for which students skipped mid-day meals and returned their school dresses to the school authority, ,” said Bikram Nayak , one of the guardians .We requested to take mid-day meals and not to return their dresses . But students did not pay any heed to our pleas, said Ajaya Sahoo the head-master of the school.Due to vacancies of teachers in the government managed schools, English-medium schools are sprouting in rural areas to meet the growing demand. It is high time on the part of the officials to fill up all the teacher posts in the schools’, said Kaliprasan Nayak, a former headmaster of a school in the district. When contacted Ajit Nayak the Block Education Officer of Pattamundai block said ” Many guardians forced their children to skip mid-day meals and returned their school dresses to the headmaster on Wednesday .We have informed the District Education Officer about the demand of the students and their guardians. . The authorities will soon appoint more teachers in the school.