So these schools and colleges have today many such teachers and non-teachers who are actually earning a good sum through their de facto jobs in Delhi, or Mumbai or in other metros, many of them are even in farming and other business for last more than 20 years. Now the policy change in Bihar has proved to be a hen laying gold eggs for such people. Most of these have now returned to the school and have introduced themselves to the students.

Here I would also say something about the Shikshamitra policy of Bihar government. Under this policy, the government has given rights to the panchayats to select and appoint good teachers from among the able and educated members of same panchayat. This program has simplified the selection process on the one side and minimised time and expense incurred upon selections and appointment on the other. Also, it has given employment opportunity to many deserving educated unemployed candidates.

But this program has its own drawbacks not because the government has chosen wrong program or is following incorrect policy. This all is once again because of the people at grass root level through whom the policy is being implemented. Government can never be said totally responsible for failure of this policy too. The public is equally, rather more responsible for this failure.

In most of the cases, schools are very near to the residences of such teachers and most of these teachers prior to their selection under this program have been doing some business or farming. Now this selection has proved to be a source of additional income for them and teaching once again has become a part time business in Bihar.

Many of these teachers would just rush to the classroom half an hour to an hour late as convenient, give some sort of class work to the students and ask the class monitor to control the students for a moment while they would return back soon from their shop, or fields. After doing this, they would rush to their fields, look after the work being done by labourers there or would do some other such works and after few hours return back to resume their so-called duties.

This business is generally done by most of the teachers in the school. And it is run through a mutual understanding amongst the staff. Since the selection of these people is based on academic mark-sheets and many of these mark-sheets are not actual statement of skills of the concerned person, my hunch is about their ability and skills apart from their intentions and attitude of service. The government is of course spending a lot of money on education in Bihar but it should materialise in results. God save the students of Bihar.