35% schools in India have fewer than 50 students, only 1-2 teachers: PRS analysis

NEW DELHI: At least 35 per cent of schools across India enrol fifty or fewer students and have just one or two teachers, according to an analysis by think-tank PRS Legislative Research. As per NITI Aayog, 36 per cent of government schools in India had fewer than 50 students and nearly 10 per cent had fewer than 20.

"These schools had just one or two teachers. Smaller schools, which usually have few teachers, present several issues. According to the NEP (2020), this leads to teachers teaching multiple grades and subjects, including those subjects they may not be adequately qualified in," said the analysis report released on Tuesday.

"Moreover, teachers spend a large portion of their time attending to administrative tasks, which affect teaching hours. The NEP adds that smaller and isolated schools are difficult to manage. They also lack infrastructure such as labs and libraries," it added.

Also read Goa: Schools achieve 70% student registration for APAAR IDs

As of 2022-23, 16 per cent of teaching posts for grades 1-8 were vacant. Vacancies were significantly higher in--Jharkhand (40 per cent), Bihar (32 per cent), Mizoram (30 per cent) and Tripura (26 per cent). The Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports (2023) highlighted the need to expedite teacher recruitment by states and recommended states to form an Autonomous Teacher Recruitment Board to ensure transparency in recruitment. "As of 2023-24, around 12 per cent of teachers from primary to higher secondary levels lacked professional teaching qualification. According to the Ministry of Education (2023-24), 48 per cent of teachers at the pre-primary level were unqualified," the report said.