35% schools in India enrol less than 50 students, have just one or two teachers: PRS analysis
New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI): At least 35 per cent of schools across India enrol fifty or fewer students and have just one or two teachers, according to an analysis by think-tank PRS Legislative Research.
As per NITI Aayog, 36 per cent of government schools in India had fewer than 50 students and nearly 10 per cent had fewer than 20.
"These schools had just one or two teachers. Smaller schools, which usually have few teachers, present several issues. According to the NEP (2020), this leads to teachers teaching multiple grades and subjects, including those subjects they may not be adequately qualified in," said the analysis report released on Tuesday.
"Moreover, teachers spend a large portion of their time attending to administrative tasks, which affect teaching hours. The NEP adds that smaller and isolated schools are difficult to manage. They also lack infrastructure such as labs and libraries," it added.
As of 2022-23, 16 per cent of teaching posts for grades 1-8 were vacant. Vacancies were significantly higher in--Jharkhand (40 per cent), Bihar (32 per cent), Mizoram (30 per cent) and Tripura (26 per cent).
The Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports (2023) highlighted the need to expedite teacher recruitment by states and recommended states to form an Autonomous Teacher Recruitment Board to ensure transparency in recruitment.
"As of 2023-24, around 12 per cent of teachers from primary to higher secondary levels lacked professional teaching qualification. According to the Ministry of Education (2023-24), 48 per cent of teachers at the pre-primary level were unqualified," the report said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
ALSO READ: Why remove Mahatma Gandhi's name, asks Priyanka on move to replace MGNREGA
The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
