Primary and Secondary Education seems to have taken a backseat in government schools in the Kalyana Karnataka region with a shortage of 33% of teachers in primary schools and 26% vacancies among secondary schools.
As per the latest data of the Department of Public Instruction available with The Hindu, there are a total of 60,988 sanctioned posts in government schools in the Kalyana Karnataka region of which about 18,780 posts of headmaster, postgraduate teachers, trained graduate teachers, and the primary teacher are lying vacant as of the 2023-24 academic year.
Among teaching posts, 18,187 posts are vacant against 57,337 teaching posts sanctioned for primary and secondary schools in the region.
Headmasters post
Of the total 1,292 sanctioned headmasters posts in secondary schools, 216 posts (17%) have not been filled yet. Out of 2,818 sanctioned posts of headmasters in primary schools, 844 posts (30%) are vacant.
There are nearly 4,130 sanctioned posts of primary school graduate teachers (PGTs) for the region, and the government has failed to fill up even a single post.
600 teachers overstaying deputation
A senior department official, requesting anonymity, said that though there was a shortage of teachers in the region, more than 600 teachers in seven districts of Kalyana Karnataka region were overstaying on deputation, and this was causing havoc to the future of students from an academic point of view.
It is a serious issue and the government has to address it by canceling the teachers’ deputation order and sending them to the school where they were originally posted.
District-wise vacancies of primary school teachers
Among primary school teachers, nearly 15,247 posts (33%) are lying vacant against the 46,008 sanctioned posts in the Kalyana Karnataka region. Yadgir district has the highest vacancies with a shortage of 2,571 (45%) teachers against the 5,702 sanctioned posts; followed by Ballari district with 1,754 vacancies (41%) against 4,229 sanctioned posts. As many as 3,110 posts (36%) are lying vacant against 8,564 sanctioned posts in Raichur district. In Koppal, 2,177 posts (33%) are vacant against 6,403 sanctioned. In Vijayanagara district, 1,856 (31%) posts are vacant against the 5,807 sanctioned posts. The number of vacant posts in Kalaburagi district is 2,696 (28%) against the 9,515 sanctioned posts; and in Bidar district, 1,083 posts (18%) were lying vacant against 5,788 sanctioned posts.
District-wise vacancies of secondary school teachers
In secondary schools, around 2,940 posts (26%) are vacant against a total sanctioned 11,329 posts. Yadgir district reportedly has the highest number of vacancies in secondary school teachers with 569 (41%) against 1,384 sanctioned posts, whereas Kalaburagi district reportedly has the lowest number of vacancies with 176 posts (7%) against the 2,427 sanctioned posts.
As many as 724 posts (33%) are vacant against 2,144 sanctioned posts in Raichur district; and 362 posts (33%) are vacant against 1,075 sanctioned posts in Ballari district. Around 445 posts (28%) fell vacant against the 1,567 sanctioned posts in Koppal district; 324 posts (25%) are vacant against 1,256 sanctioned posts in Vijayanagara district and Bidar district has got 340 vacant posts (23%) against 1,476 sanctioned posts.
