Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Around 150 schools in the state have zero or one student but continue to have teachers posted in them, with more than Rs 1 lakh spent every month on the salaries of two teachers.
The Right to Education Act prescribes a pupil-teacher ratio of 30:1 at the primary level and 35:1 at the upper-primary level.
According to a Ministry of Education report, Madhya Pradesh has 463 schools with zero enrolment, where 223 teachers are posted, the highest number in the country.
The state has 1,22,120 schools, 1.52 crore students and 7.17 lakh teachers, according to the same report. Its overall pupil-teacher ratio is 21:1.
25 teachers for 212 students in Bhopal school
While some schools have very few or no students, others face space constraints despite having a substantial number of teachers.
At Bhopal's Nutan Subhash School, enrolment has fallen to 212 after the school was shifted to another location following the deterioration and demolition of its old building. The school has 25 teachers, but a shortage of space forces students from Classes 5 to 8 to sit together in a single room.
At Jehangirabad government school, more than 20 teachers are posted for 200 students. At the Government Primary School in Garha Itaiya, two teachers are posted for two students.
Teachers concentrated in seven districts
Teacher deployment is also uneven across districts. According to available data, 10.55 per cent of the state's total teachers are posted in seven districts: Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Ujjain, Satna, Mandla and Raisen.
Sandipani schools face surplus staff after merger
The newly built Sandipani schools in the state now have more teachers than required after nearby government schools were shifted to their campuses.
The department has been merging smaller neighbourhood schools with larger Sandipani campuses as part of its school restructuring exercise. Students and teachers from the shifted schools are being brought into the Sandipani system.
To address the surplus, the school education department has directed districts to identify excess teachers and shift them to schools where vacancies exist.
