Four years after being declared Punjab's 23rd district, Malerkotla continues to grapple with an alarming education crisis where basic infrastructure and teaching staff remain elusive for government schools. The district tag has failed to translate into better facilities for students and teachers who struggle daily with overcrowded classrooms and inadequate resources.
Cramped Beyond Belief: Primary School Operating from Two Rooms
At Malerkotla's government primary school, 178 children from pre-primary to class 5 are forced to study in just two classrooms. The school has been operating without its own building for nearly four years, crammed into a portion of the senior secondary school for girls. With 11 teachers sharing the limited space, the situation has become unbearable.
Six teachers sit in one classroom while five occupy the other, their chairs placed so tightly that movement becomes a major challenge. "If one teacher sitting in an extreme corner has to go to a washroom, all four sitting next have to move. We think twice even before going to the washroom," revealed an anonymous teacher. The space crunch has started affecting admissions, with student numbers dropping from 214 to 178 over two years.
Senior Secondary Schools in Dire Straits
The Government Senior Secondary School (Boys) presents an equally grim picture. Despite having 841 students from classes 6 to 12, the institution operates without a regular principal since August. Mohammad Dilshad, an English lecturer, currently serves as the officiating incharge while also being the only English teacher for over 300 students in classes 11 and 12.
The school lacks basic facilities including a Commerce stream for senior classes, while Science students study without a Physics lecturer. Teachers have taken matters into their own hands by hiring a private Physics teacher, paying from their own pockets or collecting funds from donors. The school also faces a severe classroom shortage, requiring at least 10-15 additional classrooms to function properly.
Administrative Apathy and Non-Teaching Duties
The crisis extends beyond infrastructure. Teachers are frequently pulled away from classrooms for non-teaching duties like stubble burning prevention and census work. Mathematics teachers, already in short supply, are deployed for field duties, further compromising education quality.
Despite the acute space shortage, four rooms in the boys' school have been allocated for district education officials who run their temporary office from the school premises. Malerkotla still doesn't have its own district education officers, with Sangrur DEOs handling additional charge.
Girls' School: Laboratories Turned Classrooms
The Government Senior Secondary School (Girls) faces similar challenges, operating from an old heritage building where seven classrooms have been declared unsafe. With 1,173 students, the school runs double shifts while the new building remains under construction for four years.
Students frequently attend classes in the Chemistry laboratory or sit on the floor due to space constraints. "There's hardly any space and our elbows touch each other in classrooms. On most days, we attend classes in Chemistry lab and sometimes even in the open verandah," shared a class 9 student. The school also lacks a playground despite students qualifying for state-level sports competitions.
While AAP's Malerkotla MLA Mohammad Jamil ur Rehman claims the new building for girls' school is nearly ready and other issues are being addressed, the ground reality reflects four years of bureaucratic neglect and unfulfilled promises in Punjab's youngest district.
