Students made to clean school due to lack of cleaning staff
The students of a government school in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district are made to clean and mop their classrooms and corridors regularly due to the shortage of sweepers. Reportedly, there are 132 vacant posts of grade four type employees in 232 schools in four divisions of the district and the education department provides ?500 to every school facing crunch of sweepers.
Due to severe shortage of cleaning staff, students of Rajasthan's Bharatpur district government school are often seen holding brooms instead of books in the premises. Students allege that their teachers make them sweep rooms and corridors. Deepak, a class third student says, "There is no cleaning staff. So, our teachers tell us to clean. And we do."There are 232 schools in four divisions in the district, all of whose positions for class four type employees amounts to 368. Out of these 368, 132 position are vacant. But the education department in defence says that they have been providing Rs 500 each month (typically for 10 months) to every school that is facing crunch of sweepers. However, the department is unaware of students taking up the job of cleaning their school. "I do not have information of students cleaning but there will be an investigation about this. However, there is a shortage of cleaning staff," said Anil Kumar Aggarwal, Deputy District Education officer.