Bhubaneswar: More than 21,000 teacher posts are lying vacant at government primary schools in the state, a report of the school and mass education department had said during the budget session of the Assembly last year.
Even though the state government lays a lot of stress on posting of teachers in all primary and secondary schools on a priority basis, nearly 25 per cent of elementary schools in the state failed to meet the norms mandated under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, said Niti Aayog’s School Education Quality Index (SEQI) report 2019.
While efforts should be made to fill up vacant posts, crucial to imparting quality education in classrooms, the state government has decided to close 6,340 schools. At least 21,000 teacher positions in government-run primary schools are lying vacant which could be one of the reasons for the increased drop-outs in rural Odisha.
“A dearth of teachers has botched up learning at government-run schools in Odisha. This has also hit the education of underprivileged and poor children,” said Ruchi Kashyap, Executive Trustee of Atmashakti Trust, an NGO that works on education.
“In a state where thousands of government schools are being closed on the alibi of low-enrolment of children, schools without adequate number of teachers will deprive children of their learning,” added Kashyap.
In July this year, some state-level people’s organizations undertook a survey of 2,851 school children of Class III, Class V, and Class VIII to assess the learning outcome of children in government schools in 17 districts.
The survey found that out of 845 students of Class VIII, 48% were below the required standard in English. Similarly in Mathematics, it was 45% among children. The learning level of Class III and Class V students is also worrisome. Out of 1,088 students in Class V, 59% could not meet the expected level in English, 53% in Mathematics and 31% in Odia language.
One of the reasons being attributed to the low-level of learning among children was the lack of required number of teachers in schools or teacher absenteeism, said Anjan Pradhan, educationist and a member of the people’s organisation that carried out the survey.
Meanwhile, the department is working on filling up the trained graduate teacher (TGT) posts by appointing contractual teachers. The (DEOs) have been asked to submit the updated vacancy status of teachers in their respective districts, an official said.