CAG: Backward areas lag in student-teacher ratio

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 27

Despite having online teacher transfer policy since 2016, the student-teacher ratio is poor in backward districts, says the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

The ideal student-teacher ratio is 30:1 as per the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA). The CAG’s report for the period ended March 31, 2018, was submitted in the Assembly on Tuesday.

“The student-teacher ratio is poor (between 36.2 and 44) in backward regions, especially Nuh, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts, which are special focus districts under the RMSA,” read the CAG report.

On the other hand, it was between 17.08 and 20.79 in Rohtak, Jhajjar and Panchkula. The CAG report said fewer teachers were deployed in backward regions and more in Rohtak, Jhajjar and Panchkula.

The CAG report said the Teachers Transfer Policy 2016 was fair and transparent, but failed to ensure equitable distribution.

In Ambala, Fatehabad, Nuh, Sirsa and Yamunanagar, 4,013 teachers were posted against a sanctioned strength of 8,084. There were over 50 per cent vacancies in these districts, more than the average of 38 per cent vacancies in the state, read the CAG report.

Despite 2,128 sanctioned posts, no PGT, trained to teach up to Class XII, was posted in 325 schools (nearly 10 per cent). A total of 77 schools had student-teacher ratio of more than 100.

Of the sanctioned strength of 11,333 in science subjects, 5,698 were filled and 5,635 vacant. Vacancies in science subjects ranged between 71 per cent and 85 per cent in backward areas of Fatehabad, Nuh and Kaithal. There were fewer vacancies in Panchkula, Rohtak, Rewari, Mahendragarh and Gurugram, ranging between 21 per cent and 34 per cent, according to the CAG report.

Compared to the ideal ratio of 5:1 for special educators to children with special needs, it remained between 16 and 33 during 2013-18.