Chhattisgarh teachers give 2-day ultimatum to state govt over school rationalisation

Time of India

29-05-2025

RAIPUR: Teachers across Chhattisgarh have issued a two-day ultimatum to the state government, threatening a division-wise sit-in protest starting May 31.
This comes after a massive protest in Raipur on Wednesday, where 23 teacher organisations, united under the 'Sarv Shikshak Sajha Manch' banner, attempted to gherao the Mantralaya.
Teachers are protesting the government's school rationalisation policy, which they claim will impact around 40,000 teachers and nearly 30,000 schools, alleging the move is misleading the public and will severely worsen the quality of education in government schools.
"Our talk with the Education Secretary failed, and thus we have decided to continue our strike to save around 4,000 teachers' posts in government primary, upper primary, and higher secondary schools across the state," said Virendra Dubey, State President of Shaley Shikshak Sangh.
He clarified that while they have no objection to the principle of rationalisation, the state government is allegedly conspiring to eliminate around 40,000 teaching posts by "freezing" the 2008 setup.
Dharmesh Sharma, General Secretary of the Sangh, affirmed their acceptance of the RTE Act 2009 but insisted that the 2008 setup plan should remain. He claimed that through this rationalisation policy, the state government plans to eliminate one post each in primary and middle schools, and one commerce lecturer post in higher secondary schools.
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According to Mr. Sharma, around 9,000 teachers from 13,000 upper primary schools and approximately 20,000 teachers from 30,000 primary schools will be affected.
Similarly, 3,500 commerce lecturers in higher secondary schools, where there are typically two commerce lecturers per school, will be impacted by the proposed reduction to one.
Sharma pointed out that Chhattisgarh's Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) is better than the national average, which is an achievement.
However, he stressed that this does not justify abolishing teaching positions.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Education Department Secretary Siddharth Komal Singh Pardeshi has clarified that there will be no tampering with the existing setup. He stated this during a recent media interaction amidst the ongoing protests.
A report by the Chhattisgarh Education Department recently revealed that 211 government schools across the state have zero student enrollment despite having teachers deployed.
This finding has come to light amidst a wider rationalisation effort by the department. For instance, in Sajabhavna and Harratikra Government Primary Schools in Batau development block of Surguja district, teachers are present despite the absence of students.
The Education Department stated that these schools are no longer relevant, and the process of transferring these teachers to schools with actual need has begun.
Conversely, remote and inaccessible areas of the state face a severe shortage of teachers, directly impacting students' academic performance. In the Government Higher Secondary School, Kunwarpur, in Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur district, the absence of subject-specific teachers led to a higher secondary examination result of only 40.68% in 2024-25, significantly lower than the state's average.
During his visit to Kunwarpur, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai heard villagers' pleas for teacher appointments.
Residents reported that teachers for crucial subjects like science, mathematics, and English have been unavailable for years, hindering quality education.
In response to these conditions, the Education Department is re-deploying teachers from schools with no students to those where they are genuinely needed through its rationalisation process. Departmental sources indicate that the teacher rationalisation process will be completed soon to improve the education system.
Education experts believe this step was long overdue. They note that while some schools struggle without teachers, others had teachers who were underutilised due to a lack of students. They added that if the rationalisation is implemented transparently, it could significantly strengthen the education system.