Rourkela: Amid claims of prioritising education, government schools in Odisha's tribal-dominated Sundargarh district are struggling with acute staff crunch. The district’s government school education system is under strain as large numbers of teacher, headmaster, and support staff posts remain vacant, affecting academic standards.

According to official data, a total of 868 teacher posts are lying vacant across government, fully aided, and newly aided high schools (Classes VIII to X) in the district. At present, 51,727 students are studying in these schools.

Out of the total vacancies, 301 posts are vacant in government high schools, 245 in fully aided schools, and 322 in newly aided schools. The vacancies include posts for Arts, Science, Sanskrit, Hindi, and other teaching positions.

The situation is further aggravated by a large number of vacant headmaster posts. In 332 government schools, while 189 headmasters are required, 109 posts remain vacant. Similarly, in 39 fully aided schools, 36 headmaster posts are vacant, and in 88 newly aided schools, 44 headmaster positions are yet to be filled.

District education officials have reportedly informed the state education department several times about the shortage, but no concrete action has been taken so far. Apart from teachers, non-teaching staff shortages have also affected school functioning. Out of 185 clerk posts, 63 schools do not have clerks, while 250 out of 442 peon posts remain vacant.

In government schools alone, 42 Arts teacher posts are vacant, while vacancies exist for 25 Assistant Teachers (T.I.) out of 42, 15 Assistant Teachers (T.M.) out of 34, and 56 Hindi teacher posts out of 201.

Similarly, in 39 fully aided schools, 52 out of 117 Arts teacher posts, 24 out of 63 Science teacher posts, 28 out of 37 Sanskrit teacher posts, 13 out of 35 Hindi teacher posts, 17 out of 34 Physical Education teacher posts, and 21 out of 36 junior clerk posts remain vacant.

Concerns over academic quality

The situation is no better in the 88 newly aided schools, where several key teaching positions remain unfilled. These include 57 out of 176 Arts teacher posts, 65 out of 176 Science teacher posts, 10 out of 88 Sanskrit teacher posts, 33 out of 88 Hindi teacher posts, 24 out of 88 Physical Education teacher posts, and 26 out of 88 junior clerk posts.

Currently, the district has 459 high schools from Class VIII to X. In Class VIII, a total of 10,534 students are enrolled, including 5,637 boys and 4,897 girls. In Class IX, 21,177 students are studying, including 11,018 boys and 10,159 girls. In Class X, 20,015 students are enrolled, including 10,247 boys and 9,768 girls.

As thousands of students depend on government schools, experts say the continuing vacancies could harm the quality of education unless the government takes swift steps to fill the posts.

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