Jharkhand: Students missing, educators overburdened in single-teacher schools, finds study

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2 days ago

Struggling with absenteeism and a lack of engagement from educators, the single-teacher schools in Jharkhand's Latehar district are depriving students of their fundamental right to elementary education, according to findings of a study published on Friday.
The study, prepared by the NREGA Sahayata Kendra in Latehar's Manika block, found that in about 87.5% of such schools, no active teaching was taking place when surveyors made unannounced visits to the institutes.
A report on the findings of the study pointed out that 84% of the students in the schools come from the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe communities.
NREGA Sahayata Kendras in Jharkhand are help centres run by independent facilitators to guide residents in accessing entitlements under welfare programmes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
The survey was conducted between January and March to assess the functionality of single-teacher schools against the norms of the Right to Education Act. It covered 40 of the 55 single-teacher schools in the Manika block.
A single-teacher school is a violation of the Right to Education Act, which mandates at least two educators for a primary school and one teacher for every 30 students.
Nearly 8,000, or one-third of all government primary schools in Jharkhand, only have one teacher, said the report.
'Even with the best of intentions, it is very difficult for single teachers to teach when they face large numbers of children (59 on average, in these 40 schools) from multiple classes on their own,' said the report. 'The burden of record-keeping and other non-teaching duties, and the absence of basic facilities, further demotivates them.'
The study found that 35 out of 40 educators in the single-teacher schools are on contract and not permanent employees.
Pointing out that contractual employment 'often comes with poor training, job insecurity, lower salaries and fewer benefits', the report said this further adversely impacts the quality of teaching.
The survey also showed that only six out of the 40 teachers are women, which 'can impact the learning environment, particularly for female students who may have a reduced sense of safety and comfort'.
Thirty-one out of the 40 teachers are above the age of 40, which highlights a lack of recent appointments, according to the report.
Further, it said that absenteeism among teachers was a 'persistent issue', which left the students without 'proper guidance and supervision'. Even when the teachers are present, they are often occupied with administrative work, the report added.
It highlighted that the teachers spend an average 10 hours per week on record-keeping.
'This creates a poor learning environment where students receive no structured education,' said the report. 'This lack of engagement affects their academic performance and learning.'
Poor infrastructure and a lack of basic facilities in the single-teacher schools are becoming additional barriers to education, the report said. It mentioned that only 17.5% of the schools have functional toilets.