1,200 SCHOOLS IN HP HAVE ONLY ONE TEACHER

many as 1,200 schools in Himachal are running with a single teacher, a report compiled by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan revealed.

The state has 10,724 primary schools, 2,064 middle schools, 923 high schools and 1,718 senior secondary schools. Out of these, 1,021 primary and 193 middle schools are single-teacher schools.

The state government had last year said that the student enrolment in around 236 schools of state is in single digit and 23 schools have less than two students, 11 primary schools have three students.

“Some primary schools, however, have almost negligible enrolment but still having only a single teacher shows the poor condition of education system in Himachal,” said Kripal Sharma, a retired teacher. He added, “Primary schools should have at least two teachers as there are many non-teaching assignments too for a teacher.”

In middle school, there are seven subjects and at least seven teachers should be there to teach each subject. But there are 193 schools with single teacher, 344 with two, 564 with three and 959 schools with six teachers in the state. Moreover, as many as 358 high schools have less than six teachers while 49 have less than three. In 43 senior secondary schools, there are less than six teachers and 231 have less than 10 teachers. Ironically, the density of teachers in urban areas is pretty high. “It is a harsh reality that teachers are not willing to serve in the interior areas of the state,” said a senior government official. He added that there are many teachers who were posted in difficult terrains areas but are now on deputation at other schools or projects.