CANACONA
Government Primary Schools (GPS) are facing bleak future in Canacona, with as many as seven of them being shut down since the last two academic years on account of insufficient students.
When contacted, Cancona ADEI Lawrence Pereira said 4 GPSs have been closed down during this academic year (2023-24), while 3 GPSs were closed when the school reopened during the last academic year (2022-23)
“The 4 GPSs which have been closed this academic year due to ‘Nil’ enrolment of students are Dhavalkhazan (Agonda), Idhar (Loliem-Polem), Muthal (Sadolxem-Poinguinim) and Molorem (Khola). Except for one student at Molorem, who has been shifted to a nearby school, there were no new enrolments for the 2023-24 academic year at any of the 3 other schools,” said Pereira.
Incidentally, there has been a sharp drop from 75 to 58 in the number of GPSs in the last four years.
STUDENTS: Providing further details of student enrolment, Pereira said of the 58 GPSs presently functioning with a minimum of just one teacher in Canacona taluka, 2 GPSs at Maxem (Loliem-Polem) and Avem (Cotigao) are functioning with only 3 students each, while the GPS Nuvem (Shristhal) has the highest now of 56 students with two teachers.
Similarly, there are 15 GPSs with less than 10 enrolments, while 18 other GPSs have less than 20 students. The remaining 21 GPSs have between 21 and 37 enrolments.
Incidentally, while there are 1,035 students enrolled in 58 GPSs, there are 1,549 students enrolled in 17 aided primary schools for 2023-24.
The poor student strength is not restricted to government primary school, as the two Government Middle Schools (GMS) at Palolem and Patnem (both in Canacona municipality) also have a meagre enrolment of just 9 and 11 students respectively.
The 6 Government High Schools (GHS) and 13 Aided High Schools (AHS) have a total enrolment of 4,132 students.
The lone Government Higher Secondary School (GHSS) and the 4 Aided Higher Secondary Schools collectively have 1,210 enrolments up to June 15, 2023, taking the overall school enrolments from Primary to HSS level to 7,926 in Canacona taluka.
TEACHERS: Stating that Canacona taluka faces a shortage of teachers, Pereira said a request has been submitted to the government proposing a posting of 20 teachers.
Pereira informed there are 73 regular teachers, and 19 TET’s, while 8 teachers are working contract and 5 para teachers, while the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is deputing a PE teacher and Arts Teachers as two special teachers in the schools.
He added that about 15 teachers retired in the past academic year.
Speaking on school timings, particularly for primary schools, Pereira informed the normal school timings are 7.45 am to 1.30 pm, to ensure a mandatory 5½ hours of school with a 15-minute interval.
“Though school hours should begin no later than 8 am, it is up to respective schools who in consultation with parents can decide as to what time to hold the school assembly.”
