Chandigarh, October 25
Nearly 40 per cent government schools in the UT still don't comply with the Right to Education (RTE) Act as far as the pupil-teacher ratio is concerned. This was revealed in the minutes of the Central Advisory Board of Education, which on October 10 took the RTE compliance's review meeting of all the states, including the UTs, in Delhi.
The report also reveals that the UT has not yet constituted the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) or the Right to Education Protection Authority (REPA) as part of the RTE compliance. Either of the two is compulsory under the RTE compliance.
Although the average pupil-teacher ratio in local government schools till the elementary level (class I-VIII) is 1:37, close to the RTE norms, the major cause of concern is the poor pupil-teachers ratio at the primary level (class I-V), which stands at 1:47.
Officials, however, maintain that the pupil-teacher ratio quoted above is for 2011-2012 and 2012-13 academic under the District Information System for Education (DISE). Data for 2013-14 is under compilation and will be out in January 2014.
The department recruited nearly 700 teachers earlier this year that will definitely improve the pupil-teacher ratio now.
However, the root concern impeding the quality education in Chandigarh is the poor student-classroom ratio (SCR), which stands at 1:59 (till elementary level) as per the DISE 2012-13 report. Chandigarh has just 1,758 classrooms for 1,02,930 students. As a result, the education department has above 40 government schools on double shift arrangements and the number is increasing every year.
Dr Anuradha, who runs the NGO Hamari Kaksha, said: "The double shift arrangement is in no way a solution to achieve high enrollment in government schools, rather it is creating a problem in imparting quality education."
"Most schools with double shift arrangement have students from a poor background. Their parents leave home early in the day for odd jobs and leave these children alone to roam around doing petty jobs. By the time they reach school for afternoon shifts, they are already tired. Effective education is possible only in single shift schools and for this, we need more classrooms and schools," she said.
RTE activist Pankaj Chandgothia is of the view that even as three new government schools have come up in Chandigarh in the current academic session and one more is expected this session in Manimajra, it will result in not much improvement in the student-classroom ratio. "We need teachers and building of classrooms on a war footing basis to scale down both pupil-teacher ratio and the student-classroom ratio to the desired level of 1:35 as stipulated in the RTE Act.
As per the details of the Central Advisory Board of Education minutes, the Central Government has also issued a guideline to all the states and the UT directing them to rationalise the deployment of existing teachers to address the problems of urban, rural and other spatial imbalances in teachers’ placements and also initiate the process of recruitment of new teachers to improve the pupil-teacher ratio stipulated in the RTE Act.
Further, the Central Advisory Board of Education has recorded that 26 states/UTs have constituted either the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) or the Right to Education Protection Authority (REPA) but the matter is still pending in Chandigarh along with the rest of the states. The constitution of the body is important to protect the rights of students to get admission.
A senior official of the Education Department said, "The file for constituting State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has already been moved to the Central Government for approval." As per the Central Advisory Board of Education, their is 100 per cent compliance of drinking water facility and separate toilet for girls and boys.
The Act
* The RTE Act was passed by Parliament in 2009, guaranteeing free and compulsory education for children between 6 to 14 years of age.
* The law came into effect from April 1, 2010 across all states barring J&K.
* As per the law, schools have to provide separate toilets for boys and girls besides safe and adequate drinking water facility for all children.
How pupil-teacher ratio and student-classroom ratio are calculated?
The pupil-teacher ratio is the number of students divided by the number of teachers in a school. A pupil-teacher ratio of 1:10 means that there are 10 students for every one teacher. The RTE Act makes it mandatory for every state to have at least 1:35 pupil-teacher ratio. The student-classroom ratio implies the number of students per classroom. As per the District Information System for Education, in 2012-13 the ratio was 1:59, indicating severe shortage of school infrastructure in UT. More than 40 schools in UT are running on double shift basis.
Nearly 40 per cent government schools in the UT still don't comply with the Right to Education (RTE) Act as far as the pupil-teacher ratio is concerned. This was revealed in the minutes of the Central Advisory Board of Education, which on October 10 took the RTE compliance's review meeting of all the states, including the UTs, in Delhi.
The report also reveals that the UT has not yet constituted the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) or the Right to Education Protection Authority (REPA) as part of the RTE compliance. Either of the two is compulsory under the RTE compliance.
Although the average pupil-teacher ratio in local government schools till the elementary level (class I-VIII) is 1:37, close to the RTE norms, the major cause of concern is the poor pupil-teachers ratio at the primary level (class I-V), which stands at 1:47.
Officials, however, maintain that the pupil-teacher ratio quoted above is for 2011-2012 and 2012-13 academic under the District Information System for Education (DISE). Data for 2013-14 is under compilation and will be out in January 2014.
The department recruited nearly 700 teachers earlier this year that will definitely improve the pupil-teacher ratio now.
However, the root concern impeding the quality education in Chandigarh is the poor student-classroom ratio (SCR), which stands at 1:59 (till elementary level) as per the DISE 2012-13 report. Chandigarh has just 1,758 classrooms for 1,02,930 students. As a result, the education department has above 40 government schools on double shift arrangements and the number is increasing every year.
Dr Anuradha, who runs the NGO Hamari Kaksha, said: "The double shift arrangement is in no way a solution to achieve high enrollment in government schools, rather it is creating a problem in imparting quality education."
"Most schools with double shift arrangement have students from a poor background. Their parents leave home early in the day for odd jobs and leave these children alone to roam around doing petty jobs. By the time they reach school for afternoon shifts, they are already tired. Effective education is possible only in single shift schools and for this, we need more classrooms and schools," she said.
RTE activist Pankaj Chandgothia is of the view that even as three new government schools have come up in Chandigarh in the current academic session and one more is expected this session in Manimajra, it will result in not much improvement in the student-classroom ratio. "We need teachers and building of classrooms on a war footing basis to scale down both pupil-teacher ratio and the student-classroom ratio to the desired level of 1:35 as stipulated in the RTE Act.
As per the details of the Central Advisory Board of Education minutes, the Central Government has also issued a guideline to all the states and the UT directing them to rationalise the deployment of existing teachers to address the problems of urban, rural and other spatial imbalances in teachers’ placements and also initiate the process of recruitment of new teachers to improve the pupil-teacher ratio stipulated in the RTE Act.
Further, the Central Advisory Board of Education has recorded that 26 states/UTs have constituted either the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) or the Right to Education Protection Authority (REPA) but the matter is still pending in Chandigarh along with the rest of the states. The constitution of the body is important to protect the rights of students to get admission.
A senior official of the Education Department said, "The file for constituting State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has already been moved to the Central Government for approval." As per the Central Advisory Board of Education, their is 100 per cent compliance of drinking water facility and separate toilet for girls and boys.
The Act
* The RTE Act was passed by Parliament in 2009, guaranteeing free and compulsory education for children between 6 to 14 years of age.
* The law came into effect from April 1, 2010 across all states barring J&K.
* As per the law, schools have to provide separate toilets for boys and girls besides safe and adequate drinking water facility for all children.
How pupil-teacher ratio and student-classroom ratio are calculated?
The pupil-teacher ratio is the number of students divided by the number of teachers in a school. A pupil-teacher ratio of 1:10 means that there are 10 students for every one teacher. The RTE Act makes it mandatory for every state to have at least 1:35 pupil-teacher ratio. The student-classroom ratio implies the number of students per classroom. As per the District Information System for Education, in 2012-13 the ratio was 1:59, indicating severe shortage of school infrastructure in UT. More than 40 schools in UT are running on double shift basis.
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