Educationists raise concern over government’s new criteria of fixing students-teacher ratio

According to educationists, limitation on teacher allotment in the new criteria is going to result in considerable reduction in the total number of posts of teachers in government schools across Maharashtra. Non-availability of adequate number of teachers, according to them, will impact education imparted in government schools, forcing parents to move away from them.

J M Abhyankar, from Maharashtra Rajya Shikshak Sena, a teachers’ union, who has written the letter, said, “For classes 9 and 10, students require subject teachers, unlike primary schools where one teacher can teach all subjects. And yet according to the new criteria, government schools offering classes 9 and 10 are going to get just one teacher for enrolment of up to 60 students.”

According to the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) data, there are a total of 15,539 primary schools having enrolment of less than 20 students. “This means all these schools will have only one teacher who will teach all subjects from classes 1 to 4,” pointed out Abhyankar, adding that all these limitations are going to burden teachers with workload, and they will end up working for more than prescribed hours without break, impacting their quality of teaching.

Vijay Kombe, from Maharashtra Rajya Prathamik Shikshak Samiti, an association of teachers from government schools, said, “Government had to withdraw the decision of closing down schools having less than 20 students, following protests. The new criteria seems like another way of closing down government schools.” Kombe also questioned the government’s idea of appointing retired teachers on contract. “How can we expect accountability from a retired teacher, who is already receiving a pension?” he asked.