The Government schools of the State are facing problems due to disproportionate distribution of teachers; many schools located in the remote areas are either run by one teacher or are without teachers while those located near the cities are having more than the required numbers.
The State Government’s District Information System for Education (D I S E) data shows that 178 primary schools in the State are without teachers while 3818 schools are being run by single teachers. Interestingly there are 51 primary schools with strength of less than 60 students where more than 6 teachers are posted. Similarly there are 93 primary schools where the 6 teachers are teaching less than 60 students. There are 15888 primary schools in the state and the data reveals that 244 teachers are posted in the schools where not even a single student is enrolled.
The Sate Convener of Right to Education (RTE) Forum, Raghu Tiwari told The Pioneer that this disparity is due to the natural tendency in teachers to get postings in the schools which are near the cities. He said that the department officials succumb to political and other pressures while doing transfers. Tiwari said that RTE mandates pupil teacher ratio of 30:1 for primary schools and 35:1 for upper primary schools, he added that the problem of shortage of teachers can be managed if teachers from schools near the cities are transferred in the remote and inaccessible schools which are facing acute shortage of staff. He said that the schools in the remote areas are also having problems like lack of drinking water, dilapidated buildings and lack of toilets which cause dropouts and low enrollments.
The Director Basic education R K Kunwar told The Pioneer that the department is committed for following the provisions of the RTE. He said that the recruitment process of teachers is in progress in the state and these new teachers would compulsorily be posted in the remote schools. Kunwar said that according to the facilities like distance from city, distance from road head and others the schools are categorized in various categories and the department follows a proper transfer policy for transferring the teachers.