Status of Teachers in India

There has been a paradigm shift in the status of teachers in post 1990s India. With the emergence of new economic order, education institutions, structures and teachers image have seen some major changes. The provisions under RTE Act 2009 had stated several norms in order to universalize education making quality education accessible to all children of the age group of 6-14 years. Apart from providing adequate and basic infrastructural facilities ,introduction of subject wise teachers and ensuring Pupil-Teacher Ratio ( 1:30 in Primary and 1:35 in Upper Primary level) are the important provisions under the RTE Act 2009.

However after 10 years of implementation of the Act the educational scenario presents a very gloomy picture with approximately 10.1 lakh vacancies of the teachers. In addition to the vacant posts of the teachers, 13.1% teachers are working with the government schools on a contractual basis. Teachers availability for the students is part of the fundamental right to education and equally important for quality education and students retention. In place of demanding recruitment of teachers, few agencies and individuals advocate for low cost private schools. According to an article written by Jain and Dholakia 2009, the only remaining alternative is Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in which low cost providers of school education who pay much lower salaries cover a significant part of school education. Large number of under qualified and underpaid teachers is employed by low fee private schools that are run by small and large enterprises.

Teacher training institutes all the country continue to remain in a dismal shape.18.5% of permanent teachers and more than 30% of temporary teachers have not obtained the professional qualifications required under RTE.90% of the aspirants fail the Central Teacher Eligibility Test. Absenteeism touching 40% in poorest states are indication of sorry state of affairs. The appointment of teachers on contractual basis with indefinite and low salary has become a countrywide phenomenon. It is grave concern to see the lack of any substantial efforts on the part of the state to build an adequate support system for the teachers along with a child friendly learning environment. The gap in the relationship between teachers, parents and larger community is seen extensively across the country.