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Stats IQ: Teachers in Primary School

Context:   According to the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Report published by Ministry of Education, Indian children are still studying in single-teacher schools which is a  violation of the Right to Education Act.

Right to Education Act, 2009
  • The Right to Education Act stated that every child of the age six to 14 years shall have a right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary education.
  • The Act states that every school must have at least two teachers. 
  • It also requires the presence of a primary school within one kilometre of every habitation.
Major States with Single-Teacher Schools
  • The proportion of single-teacher schools in India high at 14.7%.
  • In 9 of India’s 21 major States, the share of children studying in single-teacher schools was well above 10%.
  • States with high proportion of single-teacher schools:
    • Andhra Pradesh (34%)
    •  Telangana (30%)
    • Jharkhand (30%)
    • Karnataka (29%)
    • Haryana (27%)
    • Kerela (4%) has lowest proportion of single-teacher schools.
Factors Responsible for Single-Teacher schools 
  • States having low population density, scattered settlement patterns and low fertility rates like Haryana.
  •  State governments find it convenient to save money by under-staffing schools in underprivileged areas and get away with it.
  • In Jharkhand, there have been no teacher appointments since 2016.
  • Teacher resistance to remote postings is also a major problem.
Single-Teacher Schools with Large Number of Children States with plenty of single-teacher schools with a large number of children:

  • 96 in Bihar
  • 70 in Uttar Pradesh
  • 46 in Jharkhand
  • 39 in Madhya Pradesh
Major Initiative:  National Education Policy 2020
  • School Governance: Schools can be organized into clusters which will be the basic unit of governance and ensure availability of all resources including infrastructure, academic libraries and a strong professional teacher community.
  • Promotions: Promotions will be merit-based, with a mechanism for multi-source periodic performance appraisals to become educational administrators or teacher educators.
  • Incentives: Efforts will be made to incentivize the merit of students belonging to SC, ST, OBCs.

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