Over one lakh schools in India run with a single teacher, UDISE+ report shows

A government report on school education that raises fresh concern has been placed before Parliament. The latest UDISE+ report says 1,00,843 schools in the country are still run by a single teacher. These include government and aided schools, as well as some private schools.

In such schools the entire burden falls on one person. The teacher handles office work, marks the children's attendance and teaches all classes from I to V together. The number of such schools is down by 3,282 from the previous academic year, a fall of about 3 per cent. Even so, the figure remains above one lakh, which raises a major question for education policy.

Among the states, Andhra Pradesh tops the list. Andhra Pradesh alone has 16,357 schools with only one teacher posted, more than 16 per cent of all such schools in the country. Jharkhand has 9,827 such schools and Maharashtra 9,969. Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh also have a considerable number.

More than 29 lakh children study in these schools. Under the Right to Education Act, there must be one teacher for every 30 children at the primary level and one for every 35 at the upper primary level. But there are flaws in the transfer and appointment of teachers in rural areas. As a result, children at the lowest level are finding it hard to get a good education.

To tackle the problem, the Union Education Ministry is merging schools that have very few or no children with larger schools nearby. A policy of redeploying surplus teachers to schools in remote areas is also being run, so that children's learning is not hurt.