Udhampur: Government schools here are grappling with a severe problem of shortage of teachers, with schools in rural areas bearing the maximum brunt of the staff crunch. Official data showed that 543 out of 2,246 teaching posts including 274 posts of lecturers, 272 posts of masters, 543 posts of teachers are lying vacant in the district. There is more than 30 per cent shortage of staff in government schools in rural areas of the district, as per the data. Teachers and students accused the education department of the lackadaisical approach in filling the vacant posts.

The gravity of the situation can be understood from the fact that a government school in Gharodi block of the district, which ANI visited, has only five teachers for 125 students in classes first to 10th. Students and teachers in Nallah Ghoran High School said that a lack of teaching staff hampers their study and students were leaving the school for private institutes.