(a) whether the attendance of the teachers in the Government primary schools in the
country especially in Uttar Pradesh is recorded to be below 50 per cent and if so, the
reasons therefor;
(b) whether the Government have made any assessment of the adverse affect on
primary education due to absence of the teachers;
(c) if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the details of the action taken/ proposed to be taken by the Government to improve
the attendance of teachers in primary schools?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)
(a) to (d): Ministry of Human Resource Development has commissioned two major
research studies for assessment of attendance rate of students and teachers. In the first
study conducted in 2006-07 covering 20 States, 18.3% teachers in primary schools
were not in the school on a typical working day. The second study was conducted by
Development & Research Services (DRS) in 2012-13 covering 27 States. As per the
studies, nationally, teacher attendance was 81.7% in 2006-07 which rose to 84.8% in
2012-13. State-wise details of comparative findings of average attendance rate of
teachers in primary schools based on headcount during the study in 2006-07 and 2012-
13 is at Annexure. The average attendance rate of teachers in Uttar Pradesh was
78.1% in 2012-13 as compared to 83% in 2006-07.
The recruitment and service conditions, including monitoring of teachers’
attendance are primarily in the domain of respective State Government/UT
Administration.
Government of India has advised States to monitor students’ and teachers’
attendance in elementary schools and put in place mechanisms to improve teacher
presence and accountability.
The Central Government provides financial assistance to States and UTs under
the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA),
with a focus on improving quality of education at elementary and secondary level. Under
these programmes funding is also provided to States/UTs for professional development
of teachers through in-service training, grant of Teaching Learning Material and so on.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development has been constantly pursuing
with States and UTs for filling up the vacant posts of teachers’ as well as to rationalise
deployment of teachers’ in schools in order to maintain pupil-teacher ratio as per the
norms of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has
developed Performance Indicators for Elementary Education (PINDICS) to track teacher
performance and attendance in Government schools. PINDICS have been shared with
State Governments/UTs to assess teacher’s performance. Teachers’ attendance is
being monitored by States and UTs through School Management Committees/School
Management Development Committees/ Block Resource Centres/Clusters Resource
Centres by installing Bio-metric attendance system and other means.
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