‘Poor working conditions of teachers in N-E’
REPORT SAYS MOST ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS
HAVE A HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF SINGLE-TEACHER SCHOOLS
NEW DELHI: Teachers battle poor working conditions in India’s North-east and in so-called aspirational districts, and there are disparities in basic amenities such as toilets between urban and rural schools, a Unesco report said on Tuesday.
“Most of the aspirational districts have a higher percentage of single-teacher schools compared to the state. This is indicative of the challenges that the districts probably face with regard to staffing,” said the report released on World Teachers’ Day. “The proportion of women teachers in the selected aspirational districts is far lower than the state and in comparison with the all-india figure of 50%.”
India defines aspirational districts as those that are poor in socioeconomic and human development indicators, and are in need of focussed efforts to improve overall conditions.
The report — 2021 State of the Education Report for India: No Teachers, No Class — had selected seven aspirational districts, including Firozpur in Punjab, Nandurbar in Maharashtra, Raichur in Karnataka, Gumla in Jharkhand, Udalguri in Assam, Dantewada in Chhattisgarh and Ri-bhoi in Meghalaya.
Although in terms of accessibility, schools in the aspirational districts compared well with overall accessibility of schools in their respective states, they fare poorly while providing for separate and working toilets for girls and boys. Access to electricity is also lower in rural schools.
“Special attention needs to be paid to rural areas, districts with high scheduled caste and tribe populations, and all across India’s north-east, where the ratio of teachers to students needs to improve and be rationalized. Working conditions in these ‘difficult to staff’ regions also need to be improved...,” the Unesco report said. “
More state support for teacher education programmes is desirable in these regions.”
Highlighting that there is a deficit of one million teachers in the country, the report said there is a need to strengthen recruitment. “In about 15 years, 27% of the current workforce will need to be replaced. The workforce has a deficit of over 1 million teachers (at current student strength), and is likely to grow overall,” the report said.
The third edition of the state of education report, an annual flagship report of the Unesco, analysed data from the Unified District Information System for Education 2018-19 and the periodic labour force survey 2018-19.