Bihar: With the Intermediate results declared in Bihar, around 70 % science stream students failed the Bihar Intermediate Examination this year.
What came as a surprise was there are only seven physical science teachers to teach Physics in these 3500 government schools in the State. With 38 districts in Bihar, only one district Patna has all the seven Physics teachers posted.
There are about 205 teachers for Biology, 296 for Chemistry, 176 for Maths, 876 teachers for Political Science in these government schools and only seven teachers for Physics according to the statistics published in a daily newspaper.
Out of these seven physics teachers posted in Patna three teachers are permanent have been working in 3 different schools namely Patlipura School, Patna Collegiate and Miller High School and the remaining four teachers are temporary contract teachers posted within the district or nearby areas.
Dr Karunesh, Dr Subhash Chandra Singh and Akhilesh Jha are the permanent teachers posted since 1989.
“The universities, which produces Physics teachers, are itself in a shambles. Obviously the ‘product’ is not competent enough to qualify the Secondary Teachers Eligibility Test (STET),” the Assistant Professor told DH.
Clearing STET is mandatory for candidates applying for posts of teachers for respective subjects.
According to the sources “Another major flaw is that STET has not been conducted in Bihar after 2011. In 2011, only four persons applied for the post of Physics teacher. Out of these four, three were appointed on contract in 2012, while the fourth person got his appointment letter in 2017”.
Bihar Government reportedly hired secondary school teachers to fill in the shortage of Physics teachers at the Intermediate level, a step which drastically failed, as reported in Deccan Herald.