Single-teacher schools need to be eliminated: PC

Updated on: Monday, October 05, 2009

sivaganga: P. Chidambaram, the Union Home Minister on Sunday urged the State governments to take concrete steps to abolish single-teacher schools

Talking about the present situation in schools and the unemployment problem among qualified teachers, he said there were around 8 lakh schools in the country. Of them, 4.17 lakh schools were being run on single teacher concept. That means that only one teacher had to take classes for all children studying in different standards.

Amused how a teacher could effectively take classes for all children, he said the situation had to change. As result of this, the Centre had promised to convert single-teacher schools into at least three-teacher schools.

Speaking after opening the new buildings at the Tamil Nadu College of Education at Nachiapuram near Karaikudi in Sivaganga district, Mr. Chidambaram said if one or two teachers were appointed for each school in the country, around 10 lakh qualified teachers could be appointed. It can diffuse the unemployment problem.

In the next 5 to 7 years, the single-teacher concept must be abolished. It would improve the standard of education in schools, he said.

He recalled that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was mainly responsible for raising the salaries of professors and teachers.

Single-teacher schools need to be eliminated: PC

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