150 teachers found absent in schools may lose a day’s pay

Noida: Around 150 primary teachers in the district may have to forfeit a day’s salary for ‘missing’ school. During an inspection, carried out by Basic Shiksha Adhikari at nearly 70 primary schools between April 16 and 30, these teachers were found absent from duty.There are over 3,000 teachers across 512 primary schools in the district. The 70 schools that were inspected have around 450 teachers.“The teachers have been ordered to show cause for their absence. As a penalty, a day’s salary will be deducted for now. However, if any teacher cannot provide a just reason for their absence, he/she will be removed from the post,” district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma said.Of the 150 absentees, nearly 80 are permanent teachers, while the rest were shiksha mitras and nirdeshaka, the BSA said. As of now, the routine inspection has been conducted the schools located in four blocks of the district. During the inspection, students were found waiting for their classes at several schools as their teachers, including principals in some cases, remained away from duty. Meanwhile, officials maintained that there is a decrease in attendance among students across all primary schools. “We found only 30-40% of students were present in the first month of the academic session,” the DM said. The poor attendance rate, Verma added, could be because of absenteeism among teachers. “The attendance record is maintained by respective class teachers. Scrutinization will be done to check whether the low attendance rate is due to unmaintained records or if there is any other reason,” Verma added. The district magistrate has now instructed a task force committee to look into the matter.