With block-level primary school games underway across the district, government primary schools are facing hardships in organising sports events due to a shortage of dedicated sports instructors and long delays in the release of sanctioned funds.
Teachers said despite directives from the education department to conduct the competitions, no grants have been disbursed yet, forcing teachers to either spend from their own pockets or rely on financial assistance from local panchayats.
The department only issues instructions to conduct the games but has neither provided a sports teacher nor released a single penny,” the teacher said. Deputy district education officer (elementary) Manoj Kumar said the grants for hosting the games might be released shortly. “All centre-level games have already concluded, and block-level competitions have started. He noted that single-teacher institutions, such as GPS Miani, find it difficult to manage large-scale events involving multiple schools from an entire block. “We either have to pay from our own pockets or ask the village sarpanch for funds. Compounding the crisis is the total absence of dedicated physical training instructor (PTI) posts in primary schools. Meanwhile, commenting on the pending PTI recruitment, education secretary Sonali Giri stated that the matter is currently in court. Led by district senior vice-president Davinder Singh Sidhu, the delegation stated that teachers were being subjected to deliberate harassment through avoidable delays and procedural red tape, causing significant mental and financial stress.
Jagjit Singh Mann, district president of the Government Teachers’ Union and a teacher at Government Primary School, Mangli Uchi, said the department was scheduled to provide ₹ 2,000 for centre-level games and ₹ 5,000 for block-level competitions. In the Mangat-3 block, games began on Thursday at GPS Miani, where we had to request the local panchayat for financial support,” Mann said. Although the government advertised 2,000 PTI posts last year, the recruitment process has stalled.
