7 hours ago
Century-old school struggles without permanent teachers despite good admissions
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Mangaluru: The plight of the century-old Tenkayedapadavu Higher Primary School is different from that of usual govt schools in the district. Despite seeing good admissions, the school lacks permanent teachers.
The aided school has been functioning without permanent teachers for the last two academic years. After the retirement of the headmaster, Krishna Naik, in May 2022, the govt did not appoint any teachers here, making it a teacher-less school since then. Currently, it is managed by guest teachers appointed by the SDMC and one through the Jnana Deepa programme.
Prasad Kumar M, an SDMC member of the school, shared that the school will complete 100 years in 2026.
In the past, the school had a total of over 500 students, which has now reduced to 54, studying from Class I to Class VII. "However, despite having a substantial number of admissions, the education department is unwilling to provide us with one or two permanent teachers. After the retirement of Naik, Sannolli UD, a teacher at the Sri Niranjan Swamy Aided Higher Primary School, Sunkadakatte, was deputed for a few days a week.
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After the retirement of the permanent teacher at Sunkadakatte, she stopped coming, and from last year, there has been no permanent teacher.
Due to competition from English medium and private schools, the number of students has been declining year by year. In 2023-24, the number of students was 62, in 2024-25 it was 57, and in 2025-26 it was 54. "We have reached out to our MLA, DDPI, and BEO in the past, but no positive response was received.
This academic year, we are again trying our luck to get a permanent teacher and save this school from closure. There is hope for more admissions if the govt appoints permanent teachers," said Kumar, adding that they have plans to open a kindergarten.
With no permanent teachers, the school is managed by three guest teachers. With the cooperation of the SDMC and parents, two guest teachers have been working since 2018-19. They are paid by the SDMC, where money is collected from parents and locals. One teacher has been working under the 'Jnana Deepa' project of Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project (SKDRDP). "Whenever we approached govt officials, they stated that according to govt education policy, it does not appoint guest teachers for aided schools," said Kumar, demanding that aided schools too need to survive.
HR Eshwara, BEO, South, said that the office has sent information about teacher-less aided primary and high schools to the govt. The process of teacher recruitment and appointment is ongoing, he added.
