Tackle teacher shortage on priority

Better pay, job security needed for teachers

The latest UNESCO report on the state of education in India, which mainly deals with the facilities and infrastructure in schools, has painted a picture of inadequacy in many respects, especially in the case of teachers. The country is short of 11 lakh skilled teachers, with the rural areas accounting for the larger share of the deficit. Vacancies in schools in rural areas go up to 69%. The impact of this on the working of schools can be imagined when it is realised that a very large number of rural schools are single-teacher schools. One reason for the poor state of education in the country is the lack of skilled teachers. A total of 94 lakh teachers were employed in 16 lakh schools in the year 2018-19. This is an improvement from 89 lakh in 2013-14 but is still inadequate.

The report also cites some reasons for the shortage of teachers. Salaries are low and benefits are few, and there is no job security for most teachers. About 43% of all teachers have no job contract at all. Of those without a contract, 69% are private school teachers, who earn only about half what government school teachers earn. Only about 41% of the latter and 11% of the former have access to a pension, health care and gratuity. There are a large number of underpaid and under-skilled contractual teachers. At least 41% of private school teachers are under-qualified. Qualifications and rules of recruitment are changed frequently in some states like Uttar Pradesh to suit political interests. But some states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have “a systematic, technology-based, transparent system of recruitment, employment and transfer”. The report has made some recommendations to improve the situation, and they include giving teachers better pay and job security.

The pandemic has underlined the need for the use of new technology in schools. But the report says that the availability of computing equipment in schools is only 22% and only 19% of them have an internet facility. The report also deals with other aspects of school education, like the gross enrolment ratio, which has improved considerably in the last two decades. The overall retention rate has also improved but needs to improve further. The report sums up the challenges thus: “Quality of education is the core challenge of the next decade when it comes to improving overall educational standards, retention, transition, and equity in academic achievement. Hence the focus of this decade on teachers and teaching.” These need to be given due consideration at a time when the New Education Policy is being implemented, and special efforts should be made to tackle the problems created by the pandemic.

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