Students said: As the bell rings, teachers come to the classroom, settle themselves and leave us to study on our own. Mostly, they are found in the staff room, chatting the day away along with other teachers, they added.

Such scenes are common across local government schools of the city, especially those based in rural areas. Teachers often travel long distances to come to the schools and more than often lose interest in their noble profession.

“The children are just too weak in studies. Their parents take no pains to help them follow studies at home. This has invariably forced us to change our attitude towards the students,” said a government school teacher on condition of anonymity.

Another teacher said: “We are slapped with so many non-educational work that we are hardly left with a fresh mind to teach.”

Contrary to what happens on the field in these schools, Sudesh Bajaj, District Education Officer (Secondary), claimed she has been keeping a strict vigil on the performance of government schools of the district. Random inspections and checking by a team of principals are regularly organised, she said.

“Many irregularities have come to light during these inspections. About a month ago, I found a few teachers chatting in the staff room of the Government School in Katani-Kalan while the classrooms were without any teachers. The school principal was asked to give a written explanation in this regard and to ensure that this would not be repeated.

In another instance at the Government School in Rampur, I found that the science teacher had finished just seven lessons in 20 days. When asked to explain her teaching methodology, she failed to give an explanation. She was asked to improve her conduct,” Bajaj said.

When asked as how many schools have been inspected by now, Bajaj said, “About half of dozen including Samrala, Katani-Kalan, Rampur, Kohara and Jandiali. More random checks will be carried out in the future.”

Bajaj added: “We have been asked to file monthly inspection reports of the government schools to Krishan Kumar, Director General, Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, Punjab. I have constituted a team, comprising ten principles, to check the working of government schools in their respective areas from April 15 to April 30. They will file their reports on Wednesday. As these were the admission days, most of the checkings were conducted to ensure that schools are collecting right amount of funds from students and to check the number of children being enrolled in a particular school etc.”