Kolkata, 10 January (H.S.) : The central government has released a report highlighting the state of student enrollment in schools across the country for the academic year 2023-24. West Bengal has the highest number of schools without any student enrollment, followed by Rajasthan and Telangana.
According to the report, 3,254 schools in West Bengal had no students enrolled last year, despite having 14,627 teachers assigned to them. Additionally, there were 6,366 schools in the state with only one teacher for all enrolled students.
On a national scale, 12,954 schools were completely without students during the same period, with 31,981 teachers assigned to them. Moreover, nearly 110,000 schools had only one teacher, even though they had enrolled students. Rajasthan followed Bengal with 2,167 schools without students, while Telangana ranked third with 2,097 such schools.
The report, prepared by the Ministry of Education’s Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), is based on data submitted by the states and union territories. Schools are required to upload data about their student-teacher ratio, vacancies, and other metrics, which the ministry then compiles into a comprehensive report.
This revelation has sparked reactions from various teacher organizations in West Bengal. Swapan Mandal, General Secretary of the Bengal Teachers and Staff Association, criticized the government, stating, “Providing allowances or distributing school bags, notebooks, and tablets cannot improve the education system. Fundamental infrastructure development is essential, which this government has neglected for 13 years.”
On the other hand, Sanjay Barua, State Joint Secretary of the West Bengal Secondary TMC Teachers’ Association, stated, “While we do not completely deny the findings, we haven’t observed such extreme cases of student-less schools.”
Meanwhile, the state education department has begun collecting data on the student-teacher ratio in schools. Sources at Bikash Bhavan (Education Department Headquarter) mentioned that ideally, there should be one teacher for every 40 students. For subject-specific teachers, a ratio of one teacher for every 110-120 students is considered acceptable.
Hindusthan Samachar
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