Flood fury in these Kheri schools puts teachers in ‘deep water’

Amid widespread protest against the move to make teachers’ attendance digital, flood fury in nearly two dozen schools located in rural areas of Lakhimpur Kheri has made it quite hard for teachers posted there to reach schools let alone following government order regarding online attendance.

Rajesh Mohile, in-charge head teacher of government-run primary school, Ran Nagar, in Kheri’s Nighasan block is a harried lot these days.

Mohile is posted at a school which is among the ones located on the India-Nepal border in Tikunia area and submerged in flood water these days.

“I live in Tikunia town, which is around 6 to 7 km from my place of posting as a rented accommodation near my school is not available. All roads leading to the school are submerged in flood waters. So, it is next to impossible for me to wade through the flowing water and reach school on time and mark my attendance there,” Mohile told HT over phone.

“Two “shiksha mitras” (para teachers) who belong to Ran Nagar area are also unable to reach school. Given these conditions, how a teacher could be expected to post their attendance online from their schools,” he said.

“Due to heavy rain, the Mohana and the Kaudiyala rivers in my vicinity have inundated nearly two dozen schools (Mohile’s school is one among them) and made them almost inaccessible,” Mohile added.

Network of mobile service providers hit

As per Mohile, another issue they are facing in marking their attendance online is of unstable mobile network. He said the flood situation has also hit network of all mobile service providers in border areas. “Many times, there is no network at all and these leaves teachers aghast,” Mohile said.

Prateek Dixit, Nighasan block president, UP Primary Teachers Association, said, “Online attendance was insisted upon without considering the problems on the ground.”

“Posting of basics school teachers is mostly in rural areas and Kheri district has a number of schools located in very tough terrains having network issues, floods, poor connectivity, extreme cold and fog during winter.”

“All these aspects must have been addressed before enforcing online attendance,” he added.

“As many as 21 basic schools of Nighasan block were reported to have been inundated by floods and it was not possible for teachers of these schools to reach even their schools, set aside posting attendance on the portal.”

Manoj Shukla, Kheri district secretary, UP Primary Teachers’ Association, said, “My organisation has long been raising various issues of the teachers for the past several months. We protested against the move (of digitisation) and held a peaceful demonstration on Monday after school hours.”