Happy Teachers’ Day? Packed Classrooms, Yet No One to Teach

In India, one in every six teaching positions in government schools are vacant.

(Photo: The Quint)

It’s that’s time of the year, when almost every child runs into school with a rose in their hand – ready to present it to their favourite teacher. Teachers are thanked and celebrated around the country, for their service and dedication to the profession.

But what about those children, who don’t have teachers? Those, who stare blankly at empty blackboards, simply because no teachers walk in to take classes?

In India, one in every six teaching positions in government schools are vacant.

Out of the states, Jharkhand has the most vacancies, as far as teaching positions in government secondary schools are concerned. In the state, over 70 percent of teaching positions are vacant.

In UP, over half of the positions are vacant, while in Bihar, the vacancies amount to almost a third of the available positions.

Further, in both UP and Bihar, the pupil-teacher ratio is almost at 1 teacher for over 60 students.

The Quint visited schools in each of these states, and the children had just one thing to say:

If we have more teachers then we will be able to study more, and we will be able to do a better job at it.