The Jharkhand government on Monday recruited 827 teachers in secondary schools to bridge the student-teacher gap in the state.
The state has been facing a shortage of teachers and protests from students and parents because of single-teacher schools in violation of the Right to Education Act.
Development economist Jean Dreze, along with other rights activists, had cited a survey of state-owned schools which stated that out of 35,438 primary schools, 6,904 are single-teacher schools and those account for 19.48 per cent which is in violation of the Right to Education Act.
Last month in the Latehar district, parents and children marched over a kilometre and registered a protest at the Manika block development office against the shortage of school teachers and wrote an open letter to chief minister Hemant Soren on the issue.
The parents had claimed that 44 per cent of the primary schools in Manika block (one among the nine blocks of the predominantly tribal district of Latehar) are single-teacher schools which is a violation of the Right To Education Act (2009).
Jean Dreze, while addressing the gathering near the Manika block office, had said that the right to education is a fundamental right of children, on which there can be no compromise.
“It is a great injustice to the children of Jharkhand that they are sent to such schools. There should be one teacher for every 30 children and at least two teachers in every school, as per the law (RTE Act). We met many children who are in Class V but are not able to read. It does not mean that the child is unable to learn, but it means that the child has not been taught properly,” said Dreze.
On Monday, Soren symbolically distributed appointment letters to a few teachers at a programme in Ranchi.
The chief minister also launched the J-Guruji app developed by the school education and literacy department to provide digital education to children. With this app, children studying in government schools will be able to get online education. This app has been designed in such a way that students will get everything from books to test series and answers to questions in one click.
