Mumbai: 40% teaching posts vacant at BMC schools

Primary education, which lays the foundation of a student's academic life, is falling short owing to the vacancies of teachers in the BMC primary schools. As per information available under the Right to Information Act, 40% posts of the total sanctioned strength are lying vacant in different mediums, with the vacancy for Marathi medium teachers being the highest.

Marathi medium teachers form the second highest number of sanctioned teachers' strength after Urdu teachers, however, 64% posts at Marathi medium schools are vacant. Similarly, Urdu – that has the most sanctioned strength – has 37% vacancy. Created as a brand and promoted for quality English education, Mumbai Public Schools have the second highest vacancy with 60% teacher's posts vacant. The RTI data further revealed that there is 14% dearth of teachers in Hindi, Gujarati and English mediums.

“If the government does not have enough teachers, how do they think of enrolling students? We talk of spending nearly Rs1 lakh per student, have brought in virtual class rooms and other amenities but having teachers is also important. Unlike in Delhi where public schools are attracting even private school children, that is not the case here and will not be if the vacancies continue to be this high,” said Jeetendra Ghadge from The Young Whistleblowers Foundation.

A teacher is the soul of the school as he or she gives personal attention to each individual student. Unfortunately, the BMC is spending crores of rupees on virtual classes. Filling up these vacant posts will also give employment opportunities... It is not known how effectively virtual classrooms are working in the BMC schools but the fact that the number of students has decreased questions its purpose, Ghadge pointed out.

BMC officers, however, stated that the statistics were interpreted incorrectly. “It is not the fact and the data is being misinterpreted. There is a difference between sanctioned strength and required strength,” asserted BMC education officer Rajesh Kankal.

To the query that posts are sanctioned only when required, Kankal said, “We have a 30:1 student, teacher ratio in primary schools, and that is standard. The ratio for upper primary (standard 6 to standard 8) is 35:1 while it's 40:1 for secondary schools (standard 9 to standard 10). Also, there are extra teachers in Gujarati and Tamil medium schools. We employ them in schools where there is a shortage.”