A 68-year-old girls’ high school at Panchthupi in Murshidabad district is on the verge of closure after three of its five teachers have made transfer requests on medical grounds.
Sources said the situation at Panchthupi SSRKS Girls’ High School had become “dire” for parents of students. A group of parents called on chief minister Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence in Calcutta last week with a written request to keep the school running.
The chief minister’s office is yet to respond to their appeal, the parent of one of the students said.
“Our school is the guiding light to 875 students, most of whom will have no place to go and study if this school closes,” the parent added.
The school, founded in 1954, is supposed to have 20 teachers. Right now, the school has five, including the headmistress, but three have applied for transfers.
The school admits girls from Classes V to X. Some classes have multiple sections.
Worried parents this month set up a forum named the Panchthupi Nagarik Mancha, under which they wrote to the chief minister. Copies of the letter were sent to education minister Bratya Basu, the district inspector of schools, and the block development officer.
Sources said the crisis came to light last month when three teachers sought transfers on medical grounds under the Utsashree Scheme of the state government launched last August in which teachers can apply for transfers to schools in the vicinity of their homes.
Even before the Utsashree Scheme had rolled out, Panchthupi SSRKS Girls’ High School faced a shortage of teachers. Many had retired before the pandemic. In 2019, the number of teachers had come down to nine. Thereafter, four teachers left under the Utsashree Scheme and only five had remained.
Now the school is left with the prospect of having only the headmistress and another teacher.
“The decline has been steady. In 2011, the school had 19 teachers,” said forum secretary Ajit Laha. “The school has no maths or Bengali teachers at the moment.”
Headmistress Ranu Ghosh said she was bound to grant no-objection certificates to transfer applicants as all had cited medical grounds.
She concurred that the shortage of teachers would eventually lead to the school's closure.
“I have apprised governmental authorities of the situation and am waiting for guidance,” Ghosh said.
Admitting to the crisis at the school, Soma Sarkar, who is among the teachers who have applied for transfer, said: “I have applied for a transfer on medical grounds and have submitted all the requisite documents. I am hopeful it will be granted."
District inspector of schools Amar Kumar Sil declined to comment on the matter.
The worst sufferers are students like Susmita Mondal of Class IX who wondered what would happen to her education. “We are suffering in the absence of teachers in mathematics, Bengali and physical sciences,” she said.
