Sixty per cent of schools in the state still function without a full-time headmaster or principal, says the Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) 2014-15 report.
The survey report points out that even after five years of implementing the Right to Education Act, many schools across the state still fail to comply with its basic norms.
The report says 64,363 of 1,06,495 schools across the state do not have a full-time headmaster and 163 schools are functioning without a single teacher. Shockingly, 6,467 schools are functioning without electricity.
“Thousands of schools still do not have electricity or even other basic facilities such as toilets. These are issues that the government has neglected for a long time now. The U-DISE report should act as an eye-opener for the state government but it does not and, every year, schools lacking basic facilities are reported in the survey,” said Jayant Jain, president of the Forum for Fairness in Education, an educational NGO.
This year, there are around 760 schools, which have no toilet facility for girls, and 899 schools, which have no toilet facility for boys. At least 437 schools have no classrooms.
“The government is at fault for keeping the post of headmaster vacant to save money towards their salary,” said Prashant Redij, principal of Hilda Castellina School and convenor of the Maharashtra State Secondary and Higher Secondary School Principals’ Association.
“In many government schools, head or senior teachers are appointed as acting principal/headmaster. This way, the government does not have to disburse their salaries under the pay scale of headmaster. We have been protesting this. The matter is very serious,” he said.
Ironically, all the 1,06,495 schools across the state have separate rooms for the headmaster.
State of schools
- 64,363 No full-time headmaster
- 163 Not a single teacher
- 6,467 No electricity
- 760 No toilets for girls
- 899 No toilets for boys
- 437 No classrooms