By Jag Mohan Thaken
CHANDIGARH: While defining education, Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Nation, states that education is more comprehensive than that of the literal meaning. He says, “By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in child and man-body mind and spirit. Literacy is not the end of education, not even the beginning. It is one of the means by which men and women can be educated. Literacy in itself is no education.”
Have the governments ruling the country understood the real meaning of education? Perhaps No; they seem to palm off from their responsibility by weakening the government schools and allowing the private players to flourish through their personal schools and letting them to siphon the public money by luring the innocent public by propagating the English culture. They have changed Gandhi’s definition with their own- “By education they mean an all-round drawing out of the best from the pockets of the parents and showing the green pastures with exaggerated promises of inculcating the English culture in child and man-body mind and spirit.”
Let us analyse the education system and present scenario in Haryana. The General Secretary of All India Congress Committee, former Union Minister and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja says that the latest report on Haryana’s education system is quite shocking.
In 450 government schools across the state, the number of students has dropped to fewer than 10, while in 1,066 schools, a single teacher is managing all responsibilities. This situation not only exposes the weaknesses of the education system but also raises a serious question: Is the government gradually moving towards shutting down government schools?
In a statement on October 16, MP Kumari Selja says that according to the report, the dropout rate of boys is two and a half times higher than that of girls. A large number of students drop out before reaching Class 12. There are 14,338 government schools in the state, most of which are located in rural areas where the fees of private schools are an unbearable burden for poor families. As per the education department data, there are 1,01,760 government school teachers as compared to 1,75,257 private school teachers, clearly indicating that private institutions have now taken over the education sector. Kumari Selja questions why, despite government schools having proper buildings, playgrounds, electricity, internet, and other facilities, there is still an acute shortage of teachers and a decline in student strength?
Kumari Selja says that even experts now believe that government policies are gradually pushing public education to the margins. In schools where student numbers are low, the deployment of teachers is being reduced further, which is deteriorating the quality of education. As a result, children from rural and economically weaker families are left with only one option: expensive private schools, whose fees and transportation costs are far beyond their reach. If this trend continues, government schools may face closure in the coming years, and education will become a privilege only for the rich.
Giving further figures, Kumari Selja states that as of August 2025, there are 16,840 vacant teaching posts in Haryana’s 14,295 government schools. Out of 1,21,020 sanctioned posts, only 1,04,180 teachers are currently employed. The government repeatedly claims that these vacant posts will soon be filled. The education minister had informed the Assembly that out of 2,575 sanctioned principal posts, 332 are vacant. Similarly, among 916 headmaster posts, 819 are filled; among 37,738 PGT (Post Graduate Teacher) posts, 8,519 are vacant; among 2,204 elementary school headmaster posts, 30 are vacant; among 39,828 TGT (Trained Graduate Teacher) posts, 4,583 are vacant; and out of 37,759 primary and head teacher posts, 2,557 remain unfilled.
On one side there is an acute shortage of qualified teachers and on the other hand the government had expanded the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) course to two years from one year curtailing the scope of the young generation to opt for teaching profession. Also, the path to join a government teacher’s job has been made so obstructive, tedious and time consuming that it takes years to fill up the vacant posts. Firstly, the qualified teachers are forced to pass HTET (Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test), then the Staff Selection Commission separately holds its own tests and interviews to assess the knowledge of the candidate and so on.
It seems the government is opting the way through which it can reject the candidate instead of selection. Shouldn’t the state adopt the Rajasthan policy, wherein the recruitments of school teachers are based only on one examination – ‘the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET)’, No separate examination and No interview, which barricades the way of foul play of ‘Parch- Kharchi’ as alleged in Haryana.
In Haryana, also, to keep away from the regular jobs, the government is hiring the teachers on contract basis through Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN) on nominal salary with no guarantee of a secure future. What such teachers, who even themselves are not sure about their job to continue for the next day, will teach the students?
Once, former Deputy Prime Minister, Late Chaudhary Devi Lal, when he was Haryana’s Chief Minister, was shocked to know from the deputation of the teachers’ union that the teachers were working on ad hoc basis since long and their services were uncertain. He exclaimed that where even the teachers of the state are temporary, how the education imparted by such teachers can have permanent knowledge, effect and values! He immediately ordered the officers to frame such a policy which can give permanent status to such teachers and thousands of the ad hoc teachers, who had completed two years ad hoc service as on December 31, 1979, were given the permanent and secure job. This policy continued till years, but later on the coming governments discontinued it and again put the new joiners into the temporary and uncertain future.
If the present mindset of the government continues and teachers’ appointments are continued on a temporary basis, how can we expect that the government run schools will flourish and impart education to the poor students, who cannot afford the hefty fees of the private counterparts? Has the government surrendered to the private players or colluded with them under some hidden agenda? If it is so, then no one can stop the government schools from closure. (IPA Service)
