The Right to Education Act (RTE) 2009 requires a student-to-teacher ratio of 30:1 (image redrawn)
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, two populous states facing extreme poverty, perform very poorly on the student-teacher ratio indicator
India’s New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 focuses heavily on one of the country’s neglected aspects of learning: the student-teacher ratio. Filling vacancies and ensuring that there is a healthy balance between the number of students each teacher instructs was one of the priorities. Yet, after many years, the student-teacher ratio is very low across the country. According to a report in a leading news daily, around 1.2 lakh schools in the country are run by a single teacher. This is 8 percent of all Indian schools.
This number points to the heavy workload of a single teacher due to the large number of students. Contrary to the ground reality, the Right to Education Act (RTE) 2009 requires a student-teacher ratio of 30:1. If we have 70 students, then 3 teachers will be required. Primary schools are most affected by this low count.
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States with high population density are prominent among the poor performing states in this regard. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, two populous states facing extreme poverty, perform very poorly on the student-teacher ratio indicator. However, states with less population tend to do much better on student-teacher ratio. Among the country’s large, populous states, Kerala has the lowest number of single-teacher schools.
The student-teacher ratio is considered important because it is directly related to the effectiveness of teachers, and hence, the quality of learning. The performance and success of the students depends on how much the teachers are able to focus on them. The average number of students per teacher reflects the workload of teachers. Schools with smaller student-teacher ratios allow teachers more time to spend with each student. They can check on the progress of each student they are responsible for and provide more personalized teaching.
In India, availability of teachers is not the only issue. The country’s schools are also behind the digital push, which was aimed at making internet available to students across the country. These issues persist despite an increase in the budget allocation of the Ministry of Education in recent years.
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