The issue about vacancies of teachers
in India has been simmering for quite a while now. Take the case of the year
2018-19, which had witnessed 11.7% vacancies against the sanctioned posts of
teachers. Of the 17,64,956 posts of teachers under the Samagra Shiksha
Abhiyanan--an integrated scheme for school education extending support to
states from pre-school to senior secondary level, 19.1% were lying vacant and
8.8% of teacher posts under state and union territory governments remained
unfilled. The eastern states of India such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand
and Uttar Pradesh had more than 30% of the posts sanctioned in the Samagra
Shiksha Abhiyan lying vacant during this time. While the reasons may vary from
state to state, the fiscal situation of the state government is often cited as
the deciding factor for their ability or for that matter inability to fill
sanctioned posts of teachers.
Most government-run or
government-aided schools in India cater to children belonging to
socio-economically disadvantaged families and backward communities in remote
and far-flung geographical locations. The total number of government-run
schools was 10,83,678 and government-aided is 84,614, as per the Unified
District Information System for Education-Plus (U-DISE+)-2018-19 (Provisional)
data.
Typically, contract teachers are
appointed, who are then posted in the most disadvantaged areas and in schools
with high number of students belonging to parents from economically weaker
sections. Similarly, in urban areas, contract teachers are often posted in
schools that have students belonging to economically weaker families that have
recently migrated. The number of contract teachers in India’s education system
has risen consistently from 3,16,091 at the elementary level in 2010-11 to
6,32,316 by 2017-18 at the elementary and secondary levels, as per the U-DISE+
data for various years. The moot question then remains, how can we expect the
most poorly-equipped teacher to deal with the most challenging of situations?
Evidently, quality of education and
student learning remains an area of prime concern in India today. While there
has been no clear policy on hiring of contract teachers; the practice was
adopted to ensure that there are enough teachers to improve access to
education. The practice may have been
financially reasonable and in some cases led to expansion of educational
access; it would be difficult to point out that the model is sustainable when
it comes to provision of quality education given the various challenges faced
by contract teachers.
The states often argue that in the
eventuality of the Central government deciding to close down the Samagra
Shiksha Abhiyan, they would then have to bear the salary burden of teachers
recruited to the programme. It is may be to avoid such a situation that the
states prefer to hire contract teachers through Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan funds.
In a study on the teacher workforce, a number of other state-specific reasons
like recruitment processes being held up in court, a lack of proactive effort
to fast-track recruitment processes, and general apathy were identified as core
reasons for hiring of contract teachers by the state government.
Besides this, there are challenges
regarding non-availability of teachers for various subjects. In many states,
there has been a tremendous shortage of teachers in subjects such as
mathematics, science, and English. Due
to this, several schools located in rural, remote, or tribal areas do not offer
science and mathematics at the higher secondary level. In fact, in several
states, at least one-fifth of their upper primary schools do not have all three
subject teachers, as per U-DISE+ 2017-18 data. During this time, the situation
in states such as Uttar Pradesh remained worrisome where 90% of upper primary
schools did not have subject teachers. The situation had been equally dismal in
states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Jammu and
Kashmir.
Another issue that has been part of
all earlier policies pertains to streamlining of recruitment processes and
making them transparent. In the event of the enactment and notification of the
Right to Education Act of 2009 (RTE), the government announced the introduction
of Teacher Eligibility Tests (TETs) as a necessary process that would precede
teacher recruitment. Equally significant, every policy, including National
Education Policy (NEP) 2020, recommends a proper procedure for recruitment and
deployment of teachers, paying special attention to ensure that all schools
have the required subject-teachers.
So, it would be a feasible move to
ensure that teachers posted in government-run or government-aided schools are
appointed as on par with government employees, who would then become eligible
to various benefits and incentives such as higher payments, besides job
security. This would be a good move regarding the long-term benefits of
students, especially those belonging to socio-economic weaker sections.
Moreover, it is not possible to dream of turning the system around unless the
spotlight is focused on our teachers, who deserve much more for their
contribution to the society at large.
(The author of the article, Mr Rustom
Kerawalla is Chairman of Ampersand Group)
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