VILLAGE KALIGHATI of Petlawad area Madhya Pradesh (MP) witnessed a unique form of protest from the community members, as at least 25 students of a school climbed on a tree and a youth from the village took the classes on the tree top. They were protesting against the lack of teachers in the primary and middle schools in their area. Besides village Kalighati, nearly a dozen other villages took part in the protest and there the schools did not function on August 30.

As per the survey conducted by a social organisation, committed to the cause of education, about 235 posts of teachers are lying vacant in Petlawad area, which falls under Jhabua, a tribal district in the western part of MP. The teacher: pupil ratio in the area is about 1:125. In decentralized governance set up, as it should be, the issue was discussed in the Gram Sabhas held in the area on August 15, wherein they had passed a resolution demanding filling up of the vacancies of teachers by August 30, 2007. But when nothing happened, they decided to keep schools closed on 30th August and in one school of village Kalighati, classes were held on a tree nearby, which ran for two hours. As per the information received after the incident, four teachers have been provided to the schools. But the district needs more teachers and people hope that their children will have teachers in the school soon.

Jhabua district in its twelve blocks has about 4421 schools and as per the District Information System for Education (DISE), a school based statistical system supported by National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), an autonomous organisation set up Government of India reveals that about 49.6 per cent schools are having a single teacher in the district. Strikingly data points out that 22.7 per cent schools in Jhabua are single classroom schools, which is an important issue and needs to be responded.

The problem is not only in Jhabua alone. Though across the State of Madhya Pradesh the access to schools and enrolment rates have improved, number of teachers have not increased. Challenges like lack of teachers, irregular classes, overcrowded classrooms and poor quality of teaching have been impacting the learning level of children and the system is not able to retain children in schools. This is particularly important in rural and tribal areas wherein poverty is an issue. Here, still rather than sending their children to fields, parents spend their hard earned money to admit them in schools with an expectation that their children would get good education. But when system fails to meet their expectations, it further adds to their frustration. It may be pertinent to point out that tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh have a high dropout rate in schools, and events like these are pointers to gaps in the education system, which need urgent attention.