Gandhinagar: A total of 1,606 government-operated primary schools in Gujarat are currently operating with only one teacher, as disclosed by the state government during the ongoing budget session in response to a question posed in the legislative assembly.

Education Minister Kuber Dindor provided this information and assured that vacant positions in these schools would be promptly filled. However, the opposition MLAs demanded that the government provide a time frame for filling up the vacancies.

In response to the question, the minister stated that, as of December 2023, 1,606 government primary schools in Gujarat were functioning with only one teacher. The state has 32,000 government primary schools. Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar highlighted that despite past assurances, the number of primary schools with only one teacher has increased in two years, from 700 in 2022 to over 1600 in 2023.

The minister pointed out that, of the 1,606 schools with only one teacher, nearly half maintained the student-teacher ratio of 30:1 prescribed under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. He added that some of these schools had very few students, emphasising the complexity of the situation. The shortage of teachers was attributed to a recent transfer camp organized by the education department, resulting in 27,848 teachers being transferred. The minister assured that efforts were underway to fill the vacant posts promptly. DeshGujarat