By the Right to Education Act (RTE), the pupil-teacher ratio in classes between 1 and 5 should be 30:1 and 35:1 in grades 6 and above. Although, this is not the case in India.
According to a former UNESCO report, India has nearly 1.2 lakh single-teacher schools, with an astounding 89 per cent concentrated in rural regions. These discrepancies have been further confirmed by the information obtained from the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) database.
Indicators including student-teacher ratios and the frequency of one-teacher schools indicate a critical shortage of competent personnel. Moreover, despite repeated attempts to automate education, most schools still lack internet connectivity and are not equipped enough to shift the paradigm of education to the online platform, completely or partially where necessary.
Why Is The Teaching Profession In Shambles?
It is well known that education in India is in disarray. The disparity seen in educational institutions across the nation illustrates a lack of resources. One example is the pay of teachers.
By the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data, teachers in private schools, primary and secondary alike, make $13,564, while those in rural areas obtain $11,584. It gets far worse for women, who earn only $8212 per month in rural private educational institutions.
The percentage of teachers operating without a contract is surprisingly high, at 69%. However, data from government schools suggest some potential, with only 28% of educators in primary and secondary schools operating without a contract.
Also Read: Why Teachers Of This School In Remote Region Of Zanskar In North India Deserve Applause
What Is The Allocated Budget This Year For The Education Sector?
The Centre allocated Rs 1. 13 lakh crore for the education sector in the 2023-24 Union Budget, increasing expected expenditure on school and higher education by around 8.3% over 2022-23. However, recent responses to inquiries in Parliament demonstrate that there continues to be ample room to raise educational standards in India.
Which States Are The Most Afflicted?
States with a substantial population density are notable among those that fare poorly in this area. The pupil-teacher ratio index functions very inadequately in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, two of the most populous states with extreme poverty.
However, regions with smaller populations fare well in terms of student-teacher ratio. Kerala has the fewest single-teacher schools among the country’s bigger, more populous states.
The student-teacher ratio is significant because it is directly connected to the effectiveness of educators and, as a consequence, the quality of learning. The capacity of instructors to concentrate on students impacts their performance and success.
The average amount of students per teacher demonstrates the workload placed on teachers. Schools with lower student-teacher ratios enable educators to interact more closely with each student. They can track the growth of each student for whom they are responsible and provide more differentiated instruction.
Disclaimer: This article is fact-checked.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: The Indian Express, The Logical Indian, The Times Of India
Find the blogger: Srotoswini Ghatak
This post is tagged under: education, education system, Central Board Of Secondary Education, teaching system, UNESCO, Indian teachers, and Union Budget
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
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