CHHATTISGARH : There is no wonder that teachers play a fundamental role in education. And a balance in the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) is a must for students’ academic success. All children deserve a good learning environment and adequate attention from teachers.
The school education system in Chhattisgarh, unfortunately, was long plagued by an imbalance in the PTR. The teaching staff crunch had a detrimental effect on the academic experience of the students, particularly those across the rural and tribal belts. The state government, with a vision to plug the gap, took a comprehensive and meaningful initiative a couple of months ago to rationalise its schools and the teachers. The goal was to facilitate better access to education and equip students with superior learning for future.
The state, countering differences of opinion on rationalisation, went ahead with the far-reaching school education reform in line with the provisions of the National Education Policy 2020 and the Right to Education Act, 2009. It was an effort to streamline the education system and resolve academic anomalies by addressing disparity in the number of teachers available in every school.
And the impact of rationalisation became evident when schools across the state reopened last month, when the new academic session commenced after the summer vacation. It may be noted that prior to rationalisation, as many as 453 schools in the state had no teachers, while 6,872 primary schools and 255 upper primary schools (till Class VIII) were being run with only one teacher each. Such problems were particularly profound in remote and sensitive districts like Sukma, Narayanpur and Bijapur as well as other regions in south Bastar.
But the number of schools without teachers in the state has now dropped to zero! The move has also restored the hustle and bustle of children in 211 schools, which had no students.
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said, “We have resolved that now no child in Chhattisgarh will attend school or study without a teacher. Through rationalisation, we are not only following the Right to Education Act but are also laying the foundation of a strong and fair education system. It’s a restoration of justice in education.”
As part of rationalisation, deployed teachers while reorganising the existing variation in the PTR so that no school remains without a teacher, the CM added.
The marathon rationalisation drive was not just an administrative exercise but a social justice-based education reform at the centre of which remained every child, village, town and school, said Pardeshi Siddharth Komal, Secretary of School Education Department. Another objective of rationalisation was to ensure a better use of resources, minimise costs and check the number of school dropouts, he notes.
Under the teacher rationalisation programme, about 13,793 teachers were shifted and adjusted at the district level, 863 rationalised at the division level and 105 at the state level. The Chhattisgarh Education Department has maintained that no school is being closed and no post of teacher is being abolished. Instead, the focus is on ensuring that schools have better infrastructure.
The state simultaneously launched the Mukhyamantri Shiksha Gunwatta Abhiyaan (CM Education Quality Campaign), which aims to improve the quality of education in government schools. In Chhattisgarh, education has been pulled back from the back burner.