Chandigarh:

Children studying in a small village school in Haryana may not have heard of Malala Yousafzai , but on Friday they did something that would make the Nobel Peace Prize winner proud. Tired of the consistent absence of their maths teacher, kids of Isamailpur village in Jhajjar locked up the school building on Friday as a mark of protest.They removed the locks after a few hours only after they were assured that action would be taken against the erring teacher. The 200-odd students said they knew that the teacher, Dharambir, would not turn up on Friday . So they reached the school at 8am, a good hour before the starting bell, closed the main gate and ensured that no one, including the 12 other teachers, entered.As word of the protest spread, some villagers also reached the school. It's already December and the teacher has not com pleted the syllabus,“ one of the distraught students, who did not wish to be quoted, said. The classrooms were opened after a couple of hours but only after the tehsildar (revenue officer) along with block elementary education officer (BEEO) from Bahadurgarh town assured the kids that the education department would be informed.Tehsildar Matu Ram said students informed him that the maths teacher smoked on campus. “They also told me that he beats them up as well. The students were not happy with the functioning of the school principal as well.“BEEO Madan Chopra added he was looking into the issue. “We believe that Dharambir has some personal problems. For the time-being, we will reduce his workload.“Keeping in view the complaints of students, the officers have asked the school staff to mark their attendance through the biometric system which was until now being ignored.Although, there have Although, there have been some instances in the past where villagers have locked up school buildings over staff shortage or substandard teachers, this is the first case where students have expressed their resentment.Many government officials admit that there has been a drop in the quality of education in the state, but teachers' unions blame it on a severe staff shortage and lack of infrastructure.