No teacher in 150 Himachal schools; only one in 3500

SHIMLA: The issue of schools operating without teachers or with only a single teacher resonated in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

During the Zero Hour, BJP MLA Reena Kashyap raised the matter of the teacher shortage in her constituency Pachhad and highlighted that schools were running without any teacher, urging the government to appoint teachers in her area.

Responding to the issue, Education Minister Rohit Thakur said that the state boasts the country's best Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) of 1:10, meaning one teacher is appointed for every 10 students. However, the irony remains that there is a staff shortage in remote areas.

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2,500 schools in HP with less than 15 students

He mentioned that the government is attempting to fill vacant posts in these regions through a rationalisation process. He acknowledged that various pressures are involved in teacher deployment, and posting orders are sometimes revised.

He claimed that the state government has filled a record 9,000 teaching posts so far, and another 6,500 teachers will be recruited before the current government's term ends.

Despite this, 150 schools in the state are operating without teachers, and 3,500 schools have only a single teacher deployed. Additionally, there are 2,500 schools with fewer than 15 students. Earlier, while raising the issue concerning Pachhad, Kashyap stated that 12 schools in her constituency do not have a single teacher.

Several of these schools have more than 40 students. Parents are pooling funds themselves to hire teachers. She said that there are no teachers in six schools in Narag and five in Sarahan. Many posts for principals and lecturers are also lying vacant.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu intervened and said that the state government is formulating a policy for the appointment of teachers in single-teacher schools. He said that while the central government has designated Sirmaur as an 'Aspirational District,' students from the district are successfully getting selected through written recruitment examinations.