NEARLY 100,000 SCHOOLS RUN BY SINGLE TEACHER

Kumar is a headmaster, class teacher and office staffer all rolled in one at a primary school in Bechutola, Bihta, barely 50km from Patna. The school, likewise, is a single room that accommodates 80 students from classes one to five.

Over 800 km east of Patna stands Bal Vihar, another singleteacher primary school in Madhya Pradesh’s capital, Bhopal where the burden of teaching five classes rests squarely on the shoulders of physically challenged teacher Pavan Kishor Mishra.

Kumar and Mishra are no anomaly in the country’s education system, which has close to a lakh (97,923) single-teacher primary and secondary schools.

Under the Right to Education guidelines, there has to be one teacher for every 30-35 students in government and private schools. ››P8