Twitter
Advertisement

Poor education adds to Melghat's health problems

Children come only to play as teachers hardly visit schools; NGOs do their bit to keep classrooms abuzz

Latest News
article-main
(Top) Students of Sarvarkheda Zilla Parishad school make the most of their lesson time by playing around. They say their teacher MS Rathod (Below) comes, takes attendance and allows them to go home. When Rathod heard of dna visiting the school, he came running and said he was busy with administrative work. However, he was reeking of alcohol.
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

When the class VII children of Chunnilal Patel Adivasi Ashram were asked about India's Independence Day, there was pin-drop silence. The class X students think 12x12=24 and not 144. While the state government has left no stone unturned in building primary schools and ashram shalas in Melghat, dna found that the quality of education provided is so poor that many children are unaware of the basics.

"Every village has a Zilla Parishad (ZP) school. There is awareness too on how education is the only medicine to all social problems; but there is no one to impart this knowledge to the children," said Dr Ashish Satav, president of NGO Mahan.

Social activists working in this area have found that education can eradicate many health problems, especially malnutrition.

Teachers not reporting to work is one of the biggest problems for the students. When dna visited Sarvarkheda, one of the ZP schools in Melghat, the school was closed and the children were busy playing as the teacher was not present. "He (MS Rathod) came in the morning, took attendance and allowed us to go home. The other teacher has not come to school for months," said Hafisa Mauskar, a student.

Hearing the news of our arrival, Rathod came running to the school. While he tried convincing us that he was busy with administrative work, he stinked of alcohol and was found chewing gutka — a common problem. "This is the common problem in Hatru and other parts of Melghat. We want our children to be educated and self dependent, but lack of good teachers is a major roadblock," said Nammi Kasdekar, mother of Vashali, who was studying in Sarverkheda till June. She said that her daughter is now in Ashram shala at Wardha.

Devidas Rathod, a teacher in ZP Chilhati, said that many teachers are worried about their family. "Since the basic facilities like health care is poor, many do not bring their family along and start missing them soon. This is one primary reasons behind teachers not reporting to work," said Rathod, who has been a teacher in Melghat for 12 years. He added that while the government policy allows transfer every three years, he has not been transferred so far. With absence of teachers, NGOs like Maitri try filling the gaps. "In most villages, we have Maitri Mitras who teach in schools between 7am and 9am," said Kalu Betekar, member of NGO Maitri in Chilhati.

While teachers do not report to schools of the time, social activists and students agree that mass copying is a common practice leading to good results. "For government officials, results is all the matters. We know of a school where there was no physics teacher, but it had 100% result. Mass copying is very common as no flying squad visits due to accessibility problem," said Bandu Sane of NGO Khoj.

Vinod Vike (21) of Hatru village is a fallout of poor education. Vike was picked up by an engineering college in Nagpur last year. After he failed in all subjects, he decided to return to the village and is now applying for a forest guard post and running a shop. "My base was weak. I had problems in understanding English. Most of us passed by copying in school as teachers didn't pay much attention and didn't report to school," said Vike.

Sane said that many youngsters like Vike have to leave higher studies as they cannot cope with the demands of education. "Whatever we could study, we did. Teachers didn't take any interest. In the engineering college, I faced a language barrier and could not cope with it," said Anil Dhikar (21), a Harisal resident who also left engineering studies and now plans to do BA in Marathi.

Satish Uwike, the president of the Zilla Parishad, Amravati, said he has not received any complaints in the education system in ZP schools of Melghat. "Education in Melghat is my core interest area and I will look into the matter," said Uwike.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement