BHUBANESWAR: School and mass education minister Debi Prasad Mishra today admitted that 376 schools in the state do not have own building.
In a written reply to a question from Dilip Ray (BJP) in the assembly today, the minister said only 10,276 primary/upper primary schools out of the total 51,964 schools have a room for each class. Mishra said construction of 32 school buildings are in progress.
The minister said 30,121 primary schools in the state have a class room for 30 students while 14,135 upper primary schools have a class room for 35 students. Stating that the Right To Education Act does not have the provision for a teacher for each class, Mishra said there is provision for two teachers in a school having 60 students from class I to V.
Similarly, schools having 90 students have provision for 3 teachers while schools with 90 to 120 students will have four teachers. Schools having more than 120 students will have five teachers, he said.
Replying to another question, the minister said 2205 out of the 4626 government high schools in Odisha have head teachers. He said 6275 posts of teacher are vacant in government high schools. In 3264 aided high schools, 26,266 teachers are required. However, 3130 head teachers and 5616 teachers have been appointed in the aided high schools.
The minister said 12,474 teachers have been government high schools in contract basis while posts of 1172 science, 1723 hindi, 537 sanskrit, 684 sports and 1439 art teachers are vacant. Besides, posts of 1054 science teachers are vacant in aided high schools, he said.
In a written reply to a question from Bibhuti Bhusan Harichandan (BJP), the minister said a proposal to close down primary schools having ten or less than ten students is under consideration of the state government. He said the state government has closed down 195 primary and upper primary schools which had less than five students.