Malarna Doongar, May 6 -- Science stream remains elusive to students in all the senior secondary schools across the panchayats under Malarna Doongar tehsil in Sawai Madhopur district. In many secondary schools, art teachers are assigned to science subjects in junior classes, thereby depriving the girl students of quality education. Despite high enrolment rate in these government schools, lack of adequate faculty strength continues to plague the education system in the area. The sorry state of affairs was further confirmed when the state government recently said in the assembly that students prefer private schools than government institutions due to faculty crisis in science and commerce streams. On February 6, in response to a question by BJP MLA Lalit Meena, the education department said, "The science and commerce departments are not available in the government higher secondary schools in at least 11,304 panchayats across the state, while the science subject is available in 2,394 private higher secondary schools and commerce in another 1,189 such private schools in the same panchayats." "In view of such situation, the students seem to be pursuing admission in the private ones instead of the government schools - particularly in higher classes," the response added. And surveys have already showed that a major chunk of these "students" are only boys, not girls. The famous private institute in these villages, Rising Star English School, which was founded in 2018 only, boasts 28 classrooms, at least 40 teachers, a large science lab, and a regular school bus facilities. They also run a monthly home-to-home outreach programme for the parents to apprise them about the significance of their children's education. Admitting the factors, principal of Jolanda Government Senior Secondary School Prabhu Lal Meena said, "These challenges might not be a barrier to provide good education, but makes a huge gap between the government schools and private schools. The villagers, yet view the girls as the families' burden and don't want to spend much on their education. Hence, they are sent to the government set-ups for free education. But the boys are considered assets of the family and they are sent to private schools that cost a substantial annual fee. It's true that most of these girls never pursue any higher education after completing school and are often married off in a few years." However, Laxmi Chand Meena, the principal of the Rising Star English School, said that they reach out to parents of girl students as well but it only depends on the villagers' mindset. "Our fees structure is precisely unlike the government schools and parents usually don't want to spend much on girls. But, we have yet a very small number of students despite the enrolment rate increasing every year. It is not possible for us to come up with any special programme to enrol more girls or run a complete girls' school. But we definitely want the girls to come to our schools in larger number to pursue quality education, which is mandatory for their future, and which the government schools are unable to provide," he added. Commenting on the development, the chief block education officer (CBEO) of Malarna Doongar, Muhammed Zakir, said, "This trend have been prevalent in the area for the last seven to 10 years that the parents prefer to send the boys to private schools. But, they need to understand that the private schools only focus on the academics while the government schools provide a comprehensive education. As girls' enrolment is more in government schools, we also organise several programmes targeting girls such as self-defence classes at the police stations and library set-ups at the panchayats, and also a book discussion session every fortnight." However, he confessed that the lack of teaching staff and proper infrastructure are the major reasons that fail to provide a similar environment and education to girls as the boys get in private schools. "Seven years ago, science stream was approved in two schools under Malarna Doongar. However, they are yet to get started as the faculty and funds for the lab facilities and books were not alloted. The government is considering it again, but so far it was not listed in the budget," Zakir said. He added, "Yet, we think, the situation is slowly getting better. The parents who never used to consider to send the girls to schools, are at least planning to get their school final completed before their marriage. Some of them are also sending them to the college. We are constantly doing a lot awareness programme and hopefully, this mindset and reservation about the girls' education will change more in near future."...