Higher Education in India Records Alarming Student- Teacher Ratio
Recent reports of EQUIP has shown alarming results in the student to teachers ratio in India. Apart from that, a disparity has been noticed in the admissions and recruitment numbers and gender ratio of teachers as well.
A report released by the Government of India has shown concerning results on the Teacher-Student ratio in India. The report has revealed that India is trailing behind countries like Brazil and China. Where there are 19 students per teacher in China and Brazil, India has projected 24 students per teacher. 8 countries were taken into consideration for calculating the students to teacher ratio and India resulted in the worst. The result of the rest of the countries showed that Sweden has 12:1 ratio, Britain stands at 16:1, Russia in 10:1 and Canada's 9:1.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in a report has said that this does not only over-burden the teachers but also deteriorates the quality of research projects taken under their supervision.
The Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme report which is also known as EQUIP Report said that the lower student-teacher ratio increases the burden of many students on a single teacher, thus, students also get lesser time with their teachers. Apart from that, the teachers run in time shortage and they become unable to conduct research projects and fail to encourage students for the same. The EQUIP report also added that in this case, the culture and environment of questioning and reasoning in the higher study institutions get affected.
During the past couple of years, the enrolment of students has increased in the massive rate but the recruitment of teachers have not been done according to that. This is being considered as the prime reason behind the alarming ratio of students to a teacher.
As per the HRD ministry's survey named ‘All India Survey on Higher Education,’ while the student enrolment in higher education institutes has increased from 32.3 million in 2013-2014 to 36.6 million in 2017-2018, in contrast, the total number of teachers has declined from the total of 13,67,535 to 12,84,755 in the mentioned years. The survey shows the country has a shortage of 5 lakh teachers in central government, state government and private institutions combined.
The report has pointed out that the IITs have 35%, State Universities have 38% and the central universities have a shortfall of 33% in the total posts for teachers. 6,600 vacant posts alone are reported from the central universities.
The report has also said that the ratio of female teachers is significantly low in educational institutions. There are only 72 female teachers in 100 male teachers in all India level the ratio is worse in the reserved categories. The ratio of female teachers per hundred male teachers in SC category is 56, in ST 66 and in OBC 68.
Also Read:Bihar Government to appoint 1,40,000 teachers in government schools
The UGC has recently directed the government to recruit in 3 lakh vacant posts in a time period of six months. The urge for teacher recruitment has also been reflected in the actions of HRD Minister R.P. Nishank.
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