Netarhat Vidyalaya in Jharkhand, which was established in 1954 has succeeded in all spheres of education and received honours at class X and XII boards. Despite being a well-known residential boys school in the town, it is recently struggling with a scarcity of teachers.
The school has a sanctioned strength of 47 teachers, of which, only 27 subject teachers are available for teaching.
The shortage of teaching staff is dealt with the help of school alumni. Netarhat Old Boys Association (NOBA), says SK Singh, principal, Netarhat Vidyalaya that has come to our rescue.
Principal Singh says, "I voiced my concern about the shortage of subject teachers in the school on NOBA on the WhatsApp group and we were flooded with a positive response from our old students spread across the globe. The pass out students are taking virtual classes with great enthusiasm.” Presently under Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC), the school has got accreditation by CBSE, which will go into effect from 2021.
Lt. Col. (Retd.) Bajrang Bihari Singh, a former student who got admission in the school in 1961 says, “We aim to have glorious results even under CBSE, and support from old students is helping. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has revolutionised the teaching-learning method. The technological advancement has brought us closer to each other which prompted me to utilise the facility to help current students.”
Former student Priya Ranjan, an IIT Kharagpur graduate who is currently working with the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, SRM University, Andhra Pradesh, takes Maths lessons. After she came to know about the teacher crisis in the school, she has arranged for a schedule to take classes.
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Ranjan who passed out from Netarhat Vidyalaya in 1991 says, “Despite being busy, I have been taking two classes daily for class X and XII on Google Meet.”
The school alumni are holding classes for Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Humanities. Also, the wives of old students have taken up the job to deliver lessons through various digital tools.