Lok Sabha Question No. 455 (STARRED), answered on 2023-04-03
Subject: Teacher-Student Ratio and Basic Amenities in Government Schools
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Krishna Pal Singh Yadav, Rita Bahuguna Joshi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 455

## ANSWERED ON 03.04.2023

## Teacher-Student Ratio and Basic Amenities in Government Schools

- *455. DR. KRISHNA PAL SINGH YADAV: PROF. RITA BAHUGUNA JOSHI:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the steps taken by the Government to improve the teacher-student ratio in Government schools;
- (b) the steps taken by the Government to improve the quality of teachers in Government schools;
- (c) whether the Government is aware that there is lack of basic amenities in the Government schools; and
- (d) the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

- (a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 455 ANSWERED ON 03.04.2023 ASKED BY HON'BLE MP DR. KRISHNA PAL SINGH YADAV & PROF. RITA BAHUGUNA JOSHI REGARDING TEACHER-STUDENT RATIO AND BASIC AMENITIES IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS

(a) and (b): The RTE Act, 2009 recognizes the importance of providing adequate number of teachers and lays down that the prescribed Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) to be maintained for each school. The RTE Act, 2009 in its Schedule lays down PupilTeacher Ratio (PTR) for both primary and upper primary schools. At primary level, the PTR norm is 30:1 and at upper primary level, it is 35:1. As per UDISE 2021-22, at national level, the PTR is 28:1 at primary level, 23:1 at upper primary level, which is better than prescribed norms.

Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the domain of respective State and UT Governments. Advisories to maintain appropriate Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) have also been issued to States and UTs from time to time.

The National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, empowers teachers and places them at the heart of the learning process through quality teacher education, recruitment, continuous professional development and positive working environment while ensuring accountability. As per NEP, 2020, National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has introduced four year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP), on pilot basis, to equip teachers with enhanced curriculum and pedagogical knowledge. Similarly, National Professional Standard for Teachers (NPST) for enhancing capabilities of teachers and National Mentoring Mission (NMM) for individual mentoring of school teachers by senior and retired teachers has been initiated.

The Department of School Education and Literacy has launched an integrated Teacher Training Programme called NISHTHA - National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement, on the DIKSHA platform, to improve learning outcomes at the elementary level. The NISHTHA programme has been further expanded to NISHTHA 2.0 for secondary/senior secondary level teachers and NISHTHA 3.0 - Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) for teachers and school heads from pre-primary to class V.

(c) and (d): Under Samagra Shiksha, the States and UTs are supported for strengthening of existing government schools and for creation and augmentation of infrastructure facilities based on the gaps determined from Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE+) and proposals received from respective State/UT. The need for schools and also the infrastructural facilities in schools are worked out every year by the respective State/Union Territory on incremental basis depending on their need and priority and reflected in their Annual Work plan & Budget (AWP&B). These plans are then appraised and approved/estimated by the Project Approval Board (PAB) in the Department of School Education & Literacy in consultation with the States and UTs. The percentage of Government schools having infrastructure facilities is as follows:

|   Boys toilet |   Girls toilet |   Drinking Water |   Electricity |   Playground |   Boundary wall |   Library |   Ramp |
|---------------|----------------|------------------|---------------|--------------|-----------------|-----------|--------|
|          95.5 |           97.4 |            98.24 |         88.89 |         72.6 |           67.43 |      91.3 |   82.2 |

Further, recently the Department of School Education & Literacy has approved a project on Rejuvenation of Basic Infrastructure in approximately 1.20 lakh Government Schools across the country with an overall budget estimate of Rs. 4590 crore under Samagra Shiksha Scheme. The interventions covered under the project are major/minor repairs, functional toilets (boys/girls), electricity connections, functional drinking water facility and boundary walls.

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