MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (DR. D. PURANDESWARI)
(a) to (b) As per District Information System for Education (DISE), 2010-11, which collects data annually for elementary level of education, the State-wise pupil teacher ratio at elementary level as per DISE 2010-11, and secondary level as per Statistics of School Education (SSE) (2009-10) (provisional) is at Annexure-I.
Pursuant to the enforcement of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, the additional requirement of teachers in elementary education was estimated at 5.08 lakh. Under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) a total of 12,82,419 teachers were sanctioned from 2001-02 to 2009-10 to cover both urban and rural areas, against which 10.30 lakh teachers were appointed as on 31.03.2010. After the RTE Act became operative an additional 6,82,788 teachers posts have been sanctioned under SSA in the years 2010-11 and 2011-12. The cumulative progress in recruitment is 12,26,441. At the secondary stage the scheme of Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) provides inter alia for appointment of additional teachers in existing Government Secondary Schools to improve the PTR. For 11th Five Year Plan, the estimated requirement for additional teacher is 1.79 lakh. Under RMSA, 52,352 additional teachers have been sanctioned for existing secondary schools run by State Governments and local bodies.
(c) to (e) In accordance with the provision of sub-section (1) of section 23 of the RTE Act, the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) had vide Notifications dated 23rd August, 2010 laid down the minimum qualification for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in classes I to VIII. It had been inter alia provided that one of the essential qualifications for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in any of the schools referred to in clause (n) of section 2 of the RTE Act is that he / she should pass the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) which will be conducted by the appropriate Government in accordance with the Guidelines framed by the NCTE. As per the guidelines issued by the NCTE for conducting TET, the TET conducted by the Central Government shall apply to all school established, owned or controlled by the Central Government or the administrator of the Union Territory, having no legislature. The TET conducted by a State Government / UT with legislature shall apply to a school, school established, owned or controlled by the appropriate Government or local authority and an aided school receiving aid or grant to meet whole or part of its expenses from the appropriate Government or the local authority.
The NCTE guidelines also provided that if a State Government / UT with legislature decides not to conduct a TET, the schools in that State / UT would consider the TET conducted by the Central Government. However, an unaided school not receiving any kind of aid or grant to meet its expenses form the appropriate Government or the local authority may exercise the option of considering either TET conducted by Central Government or the TET conducted by the State Government / UT with legislature. The rationale for including the TET as a minimum qualification for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher is as under:
(i) It would bring national standards and benchmark of teacher quality in the recruitment process.
(ii) It would include teacher education institutions and students from these institutions to further improve their performance standards.
(iii) It would send a positive signal to all stakeholders that the Government lays special emphasis on teacher quality.
