Youths take up cudgels to 'Teach Mayurbhanj'

Baripada: While government schools across the state are grappling with teacher post vacancies, youth volunteers who have taken up teaching at schools free of cost has come as a boon for students in Mayurbhanj district.

After completing their Bachelor of Education (B. Ed) many youths are filling the vacant posts at government schools in the district. “We are being taught nicely by the teachers. Our course is also being covered timely,” a student Rajesh Kumar Sahu said.

A volunteer teacher Aishwarya Dhal said, “After completing my Masters, I had decided that I will give my best to teach school students. I am happy that I am teaching them.”

Another volunteer Duryodhan Behera said, “We have covered nearly 70 schools till now in Balasore. The main aim is to fill vacancies.”

In a bid to fill the vacant posts, 'Teach Mayurbhanj' programme was launched on Wednesday in North Orissa University in Baripada. As many as 241 male and female teachers have come forward to voluntarily teach students without any salary.

As per reports, these volunteers are teaching in 29 schools under 6 blocks of the district and are expected to bring major transformation in the education system.

"It is so nice to see them completing the courses on time. It will give students a lot of time to revise," headmaster of Bidyapeeth High School, Saroj Kumar Khuntia, said.

“There are not enough teachers in schools. After finding that lack of teachers is affecting studies in government schools, we took up this initiative,” Head of Education Department at North Orissa University, Sameer Kumar Lenka said.