- 1 Lakh Schools In India Run With Just 1 Teacher Each: Unesco Report
The country’s future is taking shape in school classrooms, the Kothari Commission said, adding that it has been more than fifty years now. Then three or four generations dropped out of school. In five decades a lot has changed, the scope of education has expanded, the number of schools has skyrocketed, the number of students has also increased; But in some cases there is no difference between then and now.
The Kothari Commission’s recommendation that six per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) should be spent on education (actually investment) is still on paper today. On the contrary, there is a shortage of educational facilities, infrastructure and teachers in schools due to declining expenditure.The report released this year by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the state of education in the country sheds light on this and cannot be ignored by policy makers. The title of the report, ‘No Teacher, No Class’, is sufficient to comment on the state of education and teachers in the country.
Out of 15.51 lakh schools in the country, 1.10 lakh schools have single teachers and 11.16 lakh posts of teachers are vacant. Out of the one-teacher schools, 89 per cent schools and 69 per cent teacher vacancies are in rural areas. This statistic points to the widening of the urban-rural divide in education.
In fact, these figures and conclusions do not require a UNESCO report; Because that’s the fact. From domestic surveys; It also appears in various ways in government reports. UNESCO has also relied on government figures for this report. Even so, owning one is still beyond the reach of the average person. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss this on the occasion of such reports.
The student is the center of learning; But the teachers are shaping it. Therefore, the teacher has a unique place in the education system. There are two extremes in society about teachers. On the one hand, he is worshiped as a ‘Guru’, on the other hand, he is despised in a tone of contempt. Teaching is a difficult subject, for which vocational training is important, a fact that society forgets. There are many misconceptions about the work of teachers and the leave they get.On the other hand, the government is constantly harassing teachers for some non-academic work. There is a need to increase investment in schools and facilities to reach quality education to children from all walks of life; The couple needs to provide quality training to teachers, giving them freedom at work. The recommendations of UNESCO are similar. The term ‘frontline worker’ was coined for those working with Corona on the front lines.UNESCO’s recommendation that teachers should also be given the status of ‘frontline workers’ is important; But not only this, with the help of fire you can do welding. There is a need to fill the vacancies of teachers, to make one-teacher schools two-teacher, to give priority to teacher training. The current practice of burdening teachers with other non-academic work needs to be stopped. Although there have been occasional announcements of its closure, in reality it has continued.
Most of the teacher vacancies are in Uttar Pradesh. There are 3.3 lakh vacancies. It is followed by Bihar (2.2 lakh) and West Bengal (1.1 lakh). In Maharashtra too, there are 74,445 vacancies, which is 14 per cent of the total teachers. The growing number of single-teacher schools and teacher vacancies in rural areas is worrisome.While it is true that equality is achieved through education, in reality the opportunity for education is not equally available everywhere. There is a big difference between urban and rural areas in terms of schools, educational facilities, number of teachers and other supplementary facilities. Even in the cities, the upper class schools are different and the poor are different. There is a need to stop this kind of inequality from education as well. This inequality has been increasing in the last three decades since the adoption of the policy of liberalization.It is true that the scope of education expanded during this period; But it is not enough, according to various reports. A recent UNESCO report underscores this point. There is no action by the government to eliminate inequality. The new national education policy has also kept quiet about spending on education. Considering that there can be no schools without teachers, the solution is to increase investment in education.
