Acute shortage of teachers No application in 19 rounds of vacancy announcements

By Prem Raj Simkhada,Kalikot,Dec.1: Rupadevi Secondary School in Malkot Uchchhaw, Naraharinath Rural Municipality, has been unable to recruit a teacher despite making vacancy announcements for 19 times for a mathematics teacher.

The school, located in a remote area, has announced a vacancy for mathematics teacher for the 19th time to meet the grant quota provided by the federal government last year. According to Dan Bahadur Budha, Principal of the school, even after advertising for the 18th time every 15 days since April, no applications were received.

He also said that finding a mathematics teacher in the public schools in the district has been very difficult.

The school had released a vacancy for the 19th time on November 16 this year. However, no candidate with a license is available, stated Principal Budha.

In Uchchhaw, a locality with 90 per cent of Dalit community, the Rupadevi School was established in 1978 through local efforts. It currently accommodates 375 students from Child Development up to grade 10. The school, which has three permanent primary school positions, has 13 teachers funded through municipal grants and local sources.

Meanwhile, Kalika Secondary School, located in Shuvakalika Rural Municipality, Balachaur, was unable to recruit a science teacher despite five times of vacancy announcements in the last academic year. After no teacher applied for the position, the grant was returned.

However, Principal Saraswati Basnet said that the school recruited a non-licensed science teacher through local sources rather than recruiting a licensed teacher. Similarly, Dahal Secondary School in Sukatiya and Janata Secondary School in Chhati haven’t been able to recruit teachers for Science, Mathematics, and English.

Nawaraj Acharya, Chief of the Education, Youth, and Sports Department at Shuvakalika Rural Municipality, informed that the government has implemented a policy to provide a federal grant of Rs. 43,689 per person for hiring three teachers per school. 

This is designated for English, mathematics, and science subjects at 12 secondary schools that do not have permanent teaching positions. 

However, the schools have been facing a challenge due to the unavailability of teachers with a license.

Likewise, Patala Rural Municipality announced a vacancy for an English, mathematics, and science teacher for the federal grants last year. Nevertheless, the rural municipality was unable to find teachers. According to Man Bahadur Rokaya, Principal of Dudheshilo Secondary School, located in Birsankot, they were unable to recruit a teacher despite three times of vacancy announcements last year.

Harsha Prasad Chaulagain, Chief of Education Development and Coordination Unit, Kalikot, stated that the unavailability of teachers is a common challenge of all public schools 

in the district. He also claimed that the issue erupted due to less importance given to the teaching profession by the students who studied English, science, and mathematics.