Nearly 1,000 students of a high school in Jharkhand’s Koderma district marched about 3 km to the Satganwa block headquarters on Wednesday, protesting teacher shortages, unsafe classrooms and inadequate furniture months before the Class 10 and 12 board examinations.
The students staged a sit-in outside the block office and raised slogans against the administration, saying teaching at the school had virtually come to a halt. They said several subjects have no teachers even as the board examinations are scheduled to begin in about four months.
According to student representatives, Classes 9 and 10 do not have teachers for English, history, Sanskrit, biology and economics. Classes 11 and 12 are reportedly without teachers for history, chemistry, mathematics, Hindi and Sanskrit.
The students said they had submitted several written requests to the school education department but had not received action. They also alleged that existing teachers were being transferred from the school without vacancies being filled, further reducing teaching capacity.
The protest also highlighted physical deficiencies at the school. Students complained of leaking classroom roofs, unsafe conditions, inadequate space and a shortage of furniture. In some classrooms, as many as eight students reportedly share a single bench.
The demonstration brought local education officials to the block office. Satganwa block development officer Manoj Kumar Ravi, block education programme officer Ashok Upadhyay and district education officer Mukul Raj met the protesting students.
The students initially rejected verbal assurances and demanded that Koderma deputy commissioner Utkarsh Gupta visit the school and provide firm commitments on the issues. Officials later managed to pacify the protesters.
Gupta told the Times of India that the district administration had taken serious note of the complaints and had sought a detailed report for prompt action. The report is expected to establish the extent of the teacher vacancies, infrastructure deficiencies and furniture shortage raised by the students.
The protest places the school’s staffing and building conditions under scrutiny as students prepare for examinations. The administration’s next step is to examine the detailed report and determine action on the vacancies and infrastructure complaints.
