Jamshedpur, Aug. 4: School education is in a shambles in East Singhbhum. Reason: shortage of teachers.

Of the 4,548 teachers’ posts available in the district, 3,686 have been filled up.

On when the recruitment for the vacant posts would be done, the district superintendent of education, P.K. Singh, said, he hasn’t got any official confirmation about recruitment of teachers but expects that they would start recruiting teachers by November end.

School education is in desperate plight as most schools are “headless.” Only 32 schools in the district have headmasters. Of 195 posts available for headmasters, 163 are vacant.

Although officials said the recruitment was under process, nothing seems to be happening as of now. The last recruitment of the trained teachers took place in 2005. Recommendations for recruitment had been sent after that to Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC), but to no avail. The last recommendation was made to the JPSC in December 2007. But even after the written test in August, it would take some time to fill up the vacancies, said Singh.

“Retirement is the main reason for the lopsided teacher-student ratio. We have given the recommendation of appointing teachers to the JPSC twice and we will do the same this year also. However, it will take some time, maybe till November, to make appointments. We are helpless because this is a state-level decision and we alone cannot do any- thing until the state permits,” said Singh.