(a) whether the Government has formulated any schemes to ensure that there are sufficient number of teachers in Government schools for children in the country; (b) if so, the details thereof; (c) whether sufficient number of teachers are available in such Government schools where the number of disabled children is more than ten; and (d) if not, the steps taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL ‘NISHANK’)
(a) & (b) The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 in its Schedule lays down Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) for both primary and upper primary schools which are 30:1 and 35:1 respectively. As per the framework of erstwhile scheme Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) – now subsumed under Samagra Shiksha, PTR at secondary level should be 30:1. As per UDISE 2017-18 (provisional), the PTR at national level for primary schools is 23:1, for upper primary schools is 25:1 and for Secondary level is 26:1.
Education is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution and majority of schools are under the State and Union Territory Governments. The recruitment, service conditions and redeployment of teachers are primarily in the domain of the respective State Government and UT Administration. However, under Samagra Shiksha – an integrated scheme for school education launched in 2018-19, financial assistance to the States and UTs is provided for additional teachers to maintain the pupil-teacher ratio.
(c) to (d) In order to address the children with special needs, special educators are appointed in all the states and UTs. These special Educators work in itinerant mode and provide support to general teachers to address the diversified and unique needs of special needs students. As of now there are 28285 in position special educators including Block Resource Persons at Block Resource Centre level in all the states and UTs. In addition, the general teachers are provided training on curriculum adaptation to address the needs of CwSN. As on date 4.24 lakh general teachers have been provided such training in the government and government aided schools.
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