Rajasthan Tribal Schools in Ruins: Banswara Parents Protest Over Dilapidated Buildings, Teacher Vacancies

Banswara- Generations of neglect have left government schools in a shocking state of decay in tribal belts of Rajasthan. Classrooms stand as crumbling ruins, kitchen sheds are coated in thick soot, and broken boundary walls offer no security, forcing students to learn under the open sky.

This dire situation exploded into public anger as furious parents in Amarthun surrounded education officials, protesting the dangerously dilapidated school buildings and a staggering eight vacant teaching posts. The community has issued a stark ultimatum: fix our schools now, or we will withdraw every child, accusing the state of a deliberate conspiracy to deny tribal children their right to quality education and a future beyond manual labor.

A scene of outrage unfolded at the Government Higher Secondary School in Amarthun as furious parents, backed by school committees and villagers, surrounded the Principal and Project Officer (PO), Arun Vyas, lambasting the administration for the appalling and hazardous condition of the school infrastructure.

The protest highlighted a deep-seated crisis in the tribal-dominated Banswara district, where students are forced to study in dilapidated, rain-damaged classrooms under the threat of collapsing roofs and walls.

Parents alleged that despite repeated correspondence, the school has not received a repair budget for painting or maintenance for over four decades.

“Our children are forced to sit outside in the sun all day. Who will be responsible if they fall ill?” questioned an angry parent during the meeting, which was chaired by Administrator Rajendra Kumar Charpota.

Frustrated by official apathy, the parents issued a stern 15-day ultimatum to education officers. They threatened to withdraw all their children from the school and obtain Transfer Certificates (TCs) if the repair work is not approved and a budget allocated immediately.

Taking matters into their own hands, the community immediately started constructing a temporary thatched hut with bamboos, wooden planks, and roofing materials collected from each house to provide temporary shelter for the students.

Vacant Posts Disrupt Education

The anger was compounded by a severe staff shortage. The school is grappling with eight vacant posts, including crucial positions like Physics and Chemistry lecturers, a Senior Mathematics teacher, the Vice-Principal, and class IV employees. Parents accused the vacant posts of severely disrupting education.

“Our children sit idle all day. We send them to study, not to do cleaning, tree plantation, or geo-tagging work meant for absent staff,” a speaker at the meeting stated, directly holding PO Principal Vyas responsible for the injustice to poor tribal children.

The protest took a political turn as speakers alleged a deliberate conspiracy by the state government against the youth of the tribal belt. They accused officials of neglecting local unemployed youth while appointing teachers from other districts with “fake degrees,” who then quickly transfer out, perpetuating a cycle of vacancy and educational disruption.

“This is a conspiracy by the state government to make the children of tribal areas labourers and not officers,” a community leader asserted. A poignant case was cited of a local tribal youth who sold his family's farm to pursue a B.Ed. degree but remains unemployed.

The meeting also expressed concern over the dilapidated state of other educational institutions in the area, including nodal schools, Anganwadi centres, and primary schools in nearby villages like Gulabpura and Kherli Pada. It was revealed that the Government Primary School in Amba Pada is still being run from a temple premises as its building construction remains incomplete after two years.

The struggle committee passed a resolution to besiege the district administration, local MLA, and top education officials with a memorandum demanding immediate action on all fronts: filling vacancies, major repairs, and new construction of classrooms, labs, a boundary wall, and a girls' hostel.