NEW DELHI: Teachers are most overburdened in Tamil Nadu and least equipped in Karnataka among the four southern states, according to the findings of the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021.
While the focus of the survey was the assessment of the students, the teachers' responses showed that they were grappling with issues like the availability of adequate instructional material and work overload, among others.
In Tamil Nadu, 58 percent of the teachers said they were overloaded with work.
Nearly half of the Kerala teachers said the same, against 37 percent in Karnataka and 36 in Andhra Pradesh responding with a ‘yes’ to the question on work pressure.
The teachers were also asked if they had adequate instructional material. Only 37 percent of Karnataka teachers said they were well equipped to teach against 58 percent in Tamil Nadu, 53 percent in Kerala and 43 percent in Andhra Pradesh.
Twenty-three percent of the teachers in Karnataka said their school building needed urgent repairs, the highest in the southern state. Kerala seems to have the least problem with school infrastructure as only 15 percent of teachers said the buildings required repairs against 18 percent in Tamil Nadu and 20 percent in Andhra Pradesh.
For the Survey, 8,454 teachers in Andhra Pradesh, 31,875 teachers in Karnataka, 12,967 in Kerala and 19,001 in Tamil Nadu participated.
A random comparison of the four southern states with the Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan showed a similar trend.
In Uttar Pradesh, 39 percent of the teachers said they were overburdened. The "gurus" seem to be most satisfied in Madhya Pradesh, where only 13 percent nodded to excessive pressure at work.
Thirty percent in Bihar and 38 percent in Rajasthan were among the burdened lot.
In contrast to the teachers, their heads positively responded to most issues like the availability of qualified staff and resources.