BENGALURU: About 6,158 government schools in the state have just one teacher each, responsible for 1.38 lakh students, while 530 schools, with zero enrollment -- no students at all -- have 358 teachers.
This shows a serious flaw in the system. While some schools have only a few teachers (one in many cases), others have excess staff despite having zero enrolment.
The department, however, has said that teachers from zero-enrollment schools have been transferred to wherever there is requirement.
The total number of single-teacher schools in the state decreased by 202, from 6,360 in 2023-24 to 6,158 in 2024-25. However, the enrollment also dropped by 33,794, which experts link to a rise in dropout rates.
Lack of subject teachers is driving students away. As in many cases, teachers are assigned only to teach Kannada or social studies and not core subjects such as mathematics and science or even English. At the same time, to maintain the “100% pass rate,” schools often “push academically weaker students out”, according to experts.
Child rights activist and executive director of Child Rights Trust Vasudev Sharma said teachers in these schools only teach Kannada or social studies. “Parents, understandably, want their children to attend schools where maths and science are taught. As a result, many opt for aided or private schools,” he said. Moreover, by the time a student reaches the upper primary level, schools deliberately push out those who are not academically strong to maintain “the 100% pass rate” in Class 10, a figure that, he argued, does not reflect real education standards, but hides the system’s failure.
He said no one questions why dropout rates surge between Classes 7 and 8, and Class 10.
‘Karnataka to hire 5k teachers across state’
“There is no record of where these children go -- whether they join other schools or not. Some of these children are forced to work even as the government claims there is no child labour, while others become victims of child marriages. The departments concerned, however, insist that no child marriage takes place,” Sharma said.
Moreover, teachers often use their influence to get transferred to schools in cities or towns, the experts said. In many cases, even teachers do not report for work in schools in remote areas, leaving students without a teacher. The situation is unfair even to teachers as they cannot be expected to travel 50 km everyday, if accommodation is not provided, the experts added.
Development educationist professor Niranjanaradhya VP said the concept of having one teacher per school itself makes it hard for parents to feel confident about enrolling their children.
“Having one teacher for an entire school is a clear violation of the Right to Education Act, which highlights that a Lower Primary School (LPA) must have at least two teachers, while a Higher Primary School (HPA) should have a minimum of three,” he said.
“Today, most parents want their children to learn English, if not as a medium of learning, at least as a language. However, this cannot be the case if a single teacher is supposed to handle all subjects, classes, and tasks,” he said.
KV Trilokchandra, Commissioner, Department of Public Instruction, told TNIE that the department has started a drive to recruit about 5,000 teachers across the state. “This aims to address the shortage of teachers, particularly in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region. The recruitment drive will also be extended to private-aided primary and high schools,” he said.