Three teachers for 566 students!

The acute shortage of teachers has been hampering the academic progress of Baniachang Government Girls' High School in Habiganj. The school established in 1968 currently has three teachers against about 566 students.

The school is supposed to have 25 teachers to teach these students. But at present, only three people are dealing with this overwhelming number of students. The posts of the headteacher and assistant headteacher are also lying vacant.

Only Bengali, Mathematics and Islamic Studies have one teacher each. There is no teacher to impart lessons on important subjects including English, Social Sciences, Biology, Business Education, Geography.

Abbas Uddin, acting headmaster of Baniachang Government Girls' High School, acknowledged the teacher shortage, saying the school is supposed to have at least 10 teachers according to the teacher-employee pattern.

"At present, we are struggling to teach 566 students with three teachers and seven part-time teachers. No teacher wants to be transferred to this school as it is far away from the city."

Not only this school, but similar situation is also prevailing in six government high schools of Habiganj. There is no headmaster in any of the six schools. Out of total 204 posts in six schools, 116 are lying vacant. Year after year, the lack of subject-based teachers has led to frustration among school teachers, students and parents.

Such a picture of the teacher shortage has been found in the list of vacant posts sent to Sylhet by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education last month.

Habiganj Government High School, established in 1883, is being run by half the number of teachers.

In this school, 26 senior and assistant teachers are working against 52 posts. There are no teachers in geography, fine arts and agriculture. A total of 19 posts are lying vacant for teachers in Bengali, English, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Religion, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The school has a total of 1,538 students.

In Habiganj BKGC Government Girls' School, out of 52 posts including those of headmaster and assistant headmaster, 23 posts are vacant. Although there is supposed to be 11 teachers in Bengali, Geography and Home Science, there is none.

There is a shortage of teachers in many subjects including English, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Business Education. Established in 1967, the school has 1,891 students.

Established in 1896, LR Government High School in Baniachang upazila has only six teachers out of 25 teachers. The remaining 19 posts are vacant. There are no teachers in Bengali, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography and Fine Arts.

Rajar Bazar Government High School in Chunarughat upazila, established in 1867, has only 10 teachers against 25 posts. There are no teachers in Geography, Fine Arts, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Agriculture.

There are 11 vacancies for 25 posts in Gobindapur Government High School in Madhabpur upazila. There are no teachers to teach Agriculture, Religion and Fine Arts. Established in 1832, the school has about 600 students.

Sheikh Alfaz Uddin, the acting headmaster of Habiganj Government High School, said academic progress is being disrupted due to teacher shortage. The vacuum has been created due to the non-filling of posts when a teacher is transferred.

Mohammad Ruhullah, district education officer (acting) of Habiganj, said "We have repeatedly informed the concerned department. They are taking the initiative to fill the vacancies. However, it is being delayed due to the pandemic situation. This problem will be addressed quickly."