MANDA, NAOGAON, Jan 16: It is unbelievable but true that a primary school comprising 142 students in Manda Upazila of the district is being run by a single teacher.
Assistant Teacher Sanjay Kumar Mondal of No. 5 Bankapur Government Primary School under Bharsho Union is teaching the students in absence of two other teachers.
Not only teaching, Mondal has to attend official meetings and discharge other official duties.
Established in 1959, the school was nationalised in 1973.
Out of the five posts of teachers, the post of headmaster and an assistant teacher are lying vacant now while one assistant is on maternity leave and another is attending a year-long training programme at Primary Teacher's Training Institute in Naogaon.
Guardians alleged that academic activities at the school have been hampered due to the lack of teachers.
Mondal, now the acting head teacher, said it is not possible for a lone teacher to teach 142 students.
"Despite the crisis, the school is being run somehow. I can't shut down the school," he also said.
He informed that the school achieved 100 per cent pass rate in Primary Education Completion (PEC) exam last year. All the 20 students came out successful in the exams.
Mondal also said the higher authorities are aware of the manpower crisis.
When contacted, Upazila Education Officer Mokhlesur Rahman told this correspondent that he did not know anything about the teacher crisis at the school.
A total of 65 posts of headmaster and 48 assistant teachers are lying vacant at different institutions in the upazila, Mokhlesur added.
He assured that steps will be taken soon to appoint teachers at these institutions.
