Even today in India, children of many government and private schools are studying with only one teacher. According to the official data of the Ministry of Education for the year 2024-25, in a total of 1,04,125 schools in the country, the same teacher teaches all the subjects to the children of all classes. About 33 lakh 7 thousand students are forced to study in this way.
What is the condition of which state?
In the list of single-teacher schools Andhra Pradesh Is at the top. There are 12,912 such schools here. At second place is Uttar Pradesh with 9,508 schools, then Jharkhand with 9,1720 schools. Apart from this, Maharashtra (8,152), Karnataka (7,349), Madhya Pradesh (7,217), West Bengal (6,482), Rajasthan (6,117), Chhattisgarh (5,973) and Telangana (5,001) are also included in the list.
condition of union territory
There are only 9 single-teacher schools in Delhi and 4 in Andaman and Nicobar. There are 7,217 such schools in Lakshadweep. Whereas there is no single-teacher school in Puducherry, Ladakh, Dadra-Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Chandigarh.
Uttar Pradesh Highest nomination in
While Uttar Pradesh ranks second in terms of single-teacher schools, the highest number of students are enrolled in its schools. This number is 6 lakh 2 thousand. After this, the highest number of nominations are in Jharkhand (4 lakh 36 thousand), West Bengal (2 lakh 35 thousand), Madhya Pradesh (2 lakh 29 thousand), Karnataka (2 lakh 23 thousand), Andhra Pradesh (1 lakh 97 thousand) and Rajasthan (1 lakh 72 thousand).
How many students should one teacher be responsible for?
According to the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009, the pupil-teacher ratio should be 30:1 for primary classes (1 to 5) and 35:1 for upper primary (6 to 8). However, in a single-teacher school, each teacher is responsible for an average of 34 students. Due to this, concerns are increasing regarding the quality of education and the workload of teachers.
6 percent decline in two years
The number of single-teacher schools declined by 6 percent from 1,18,190 in 2022-23 to 1,10,971 in 2023-24, but this number still remains a hindrance in ensuring basic education for all.
Government’s next step
A senior official of the ministry said that the government is working on consolidating schools with low or zero enrollment and merging institutions. According to the official, single-teacher schools make the teaching and learning process difficult, so teachers from schools without students are being transferred to these schools, so that education can be available to all.
Average student enrollment status
Talking about average student enrollment per school, it is highest in Chandigarh (1,222) and Delhi (808). Whereas in Ladakh (59), Mizoram (70), Meghalaya (73), and Himachal Pradesh (82) this number is much less.
Despite the government’s continued efforts to rationalize and strengthen the education system, these single-teacher schools highlight deep inequalities in access to and quality of education for all.
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