Chandigarh, July 17: The five government schools upgraded to senior secondary level by the Education Department two years ago don’t have any takers in the Class XI admission season.
Even as the centralised admission process closed on Tuesday, these schools have not drawn students for the second consecutive year.
Six seats have been filled in GMSSS in Sarangpur, and 12 in GSSS in Raipur Ali Khurd — in these schools 60 seats are available in Humanities, the only stream introduced in these schools.
Under an ambitious project two years ago, the Education Department had upgraded high schools in Maloya, Khuda Lahora, Sarangpur, Kaimbwala and Behlana to senior secondary level.
Seats in these schools have gone vacant despite the low cut-offs — students with percentage as low as 34 per cent were offered admissions this year.
The situation in Class XII was as bad. While GSSS in Maloya has 13 students in Class XII, GMSSS in Sarangpur has seven and GSSS in Khuda Lahora has 30 students.
School authorities say inadequate teaching staff is the reason. Despite repeated reminders to the Education Department for qualified teachers for Class XI and XII, they add, nothing has been done.
“Vacancies for teachers in all five subject— English, Hindi, Physical Education, Political Science and History — haven’t been filled for the last two years,” Davinder Singh, officiating principal, GMSSS, Sarangpur, said. “We have been making teachers from the junior classes teach students. The department was regularly informed about the shortage, but at the end of the day, we were left to manage on our own.”
–Agencies