123456 Kolkata: A Durgapur school headmaster turned up at school early on Friday to not only open the gates but also to ring the school bell. A Nadia headmaster called up a retired Group D staffer to help ring the bell since everyone else, including him, had to ensure the school summative examinations started on schedule.
A Farraka school headmaster, grappling with the loss of 35 teachers, which led to a student-teacher ratio of 333:1, pleaded with the management to recruit ad-hoc teachers to tide over the crisis. At a Burdwan school and a Nadia institution, science classes could not be held for the higher classes since all teachers lost their jobs.
On Friday, the first day after the SC order prompted 25,752 school employees, including teachers, not to turn up for work, a looming crisis hit Bengal schools. Most schools plunged into chaos amid ongoing examinations.
Durgapur's Jemua Bhadubala Bidyapith (HS) headmaster Jainul Haque opened the school gates for students and teachers and also rang the school bell periodically. He said, "I have no option as the lone Group D employee lost his job. Whom should I delegate this job to?"
Manik Paul, the Mira High School headmaster in Nadia's Plassey, found a way out, albeit temporarily. Paul said, "Our exams started today. But there was none to ring the bell. Eleven teachers and two non-teaching staff lost jobs. Our only Group D staffer retired this Feb. Bimal Kumar Sardar is a local. I convinced him to ring the bell during the exam, which will end on April 9."
Farakka's Arjunpur High School, with 9,497 students, lost half of its teachers after the SC order. There were a total of 67 teachers, but 35 teachers and one non-teaching staffer lost their jobs overnight. Mohammed Shohrab Ali, the teacher-in-charge, said, "I am trying to discuss the issue at the managing committee and guardians' meetings. If they approve, we may take in part-time teachers."
Tehatta Sridam Chandra Balika Vidyalaya's teacher-in-charge, Mallika Sarkar Swarnakar, said, "We are mentally collapsing. We have 2,300 students. After the order, number of teachers has come down to 12 from 17. There are now no teachers in the science and English depts. It is nearly impossible to run the school."
In Malda, Shyamsukhi Girls' School in Gazole recently featured on the Madhyamik merit list. The school lost 18 teachers. The fate was not different for seven teachers of Rishipur High School. All of them were science teachers.
Shruti Ganguly, headmistress of Basanti Devi Vidya Mandir in Burdwan, said, "Our school has 27 teachers and three para teachers for 1,419 students, out of which 12 have lost job. They were also involved in various school activities. They were also looking after different projects like Kanyashree, Aikyashree, Sikhasree, and mid-day meal and cultural activities as nodal teachers."
Taltala High School headmaster, Rittick Kundu, said, "We had only one lab assistant for three science labs, but he is on the list. It became difficult to run these labs when we have over 160 students in the science stream in classes XI and XII."
Jodhpur Park Boys' School headmaster, Amit Sen Majumder, said, "The only Group D staff stopped attending school from today. I requested, but he refused as he was very upset. All our teachers are doing his job now, but for how long?"
(Written with inputs from Mohammad Asif in Burdwan, Sukumar Mahato in Berhampore, Ashis Poddar in Kalyani, Subhro Maitra in Malda & Poulami Roy Banerjee in Kolkata)