At 8 a.m., sleepy Rud, a village in Latehar district, north-western Jharkhand, livens up. Children in white shirts and green skirts and shorts form lines and pour into the playground of the government upper primary school. It’s a 7x5 metre plot, but as it fills up with Classes I to VIII, Manju Kumari, 45, emerges to command all 145 of her students. She’s learnt to be loud enough so everyone hears her voice, because Ms. Kumari is not only in-charge of the morning assembly but also the only teacher in the school. Soon, sounds of the national anthem and prayers float through the air.
Ms. Kumari is one of the many teachers in Jharkhand who single-handedly run primary, upper primary and senior government schools. “When I joined in 2015, there was another teacher who would share responsibilities of the school with me, but later retired. There was no replacement — para (contract) or permanent teacher — sent to this school,” says Ms. Kumari.
The Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) provisional data for 2022-23 show that out of the 35,443 government schools in Jharkhand, 7,239 are single-teacher schools. Over 22% of students attend single-teacher schools, which are mostly run by para male teachers.
“The lack of recruitment over the past few years was the main reason behind the rise of single-teacher schools,” says K. Ravi Kumar, the State’s Education Secretary. Now, 3,469 teachers are being appointed after a gap of seven years.
Single-teacher schools stand in direct violation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which mandates a minimum of two teachers at all schools that have up to 60 students.
Latehar district has 257 single-teacher schools and the students are mostly from Dalit and Adivasi communities. | Photo Credit: MANOB CHOWDHURY
Paran Amitava, an RTE activist associated with the movement against single-teacher schools across Jharkhand, says this is a Statewide problem and that “UDISE shows just a fraction of the number of single-teacher schools in the State”.
The Ministry of Education in 2021-22, in response to a question raised in Parliament on the consolidation of schools, said there were approximately 1,17,285 single-teacher schools in Jharkhand, one of the highest in India.
It’s not just districts like Latehar, with 257 such schools and students mostly from Dalit and Adivasi communities, but even the State capital, Ranchi, has 540 schools run by a single teacher. Dumka district has the highest number of such schools at 719, followed by West Singhbhum at 604. The teachers also do administrative work.
Children across age groups head to a single-teacher school in Latehar. There are approximately 1,17,285 single-teacher schools in Jharkhand, one of the highest in India. | Photo Credit: MANOB CHOWDHURY
The struggles of single teachers
Shuttling between two classrooms, Mohammed Azimuddin, 59, who teaches 40 children at the primary school in Pokhri village, Latehar, wishes he could devote more time to teaching. He also has a lot of administrative work to do.
“Between departmental reporting, administrative work, and managing classrooms, I hardly give my students the attention they deserve,” says Mr. Azimuddin, who has resorted to dividing his students into two segments: Classes I to III, and Classes IV and V. “With limited resources and time, I make three columns on the board and teach two to three classes simultaneously.”
Mr. Azimuddin works beyond school hours on several days and feels especially bad when he has to leave the students by themselves to attend work-related meetings. “On some days, we get notified around 7-8 in the morning that we are expected to attend a meeting in Latehar district by 9 a.m.,” he says, adding that it takes about an hour to get to the district headquarters.
Every teacher must open the school so that the midday meal can be cooked and served, or else the children will go hungry. | Photo Credit: MANOB CHOWDHURY
Class V student Suraj Yadav, 11, says, “When sir has to leave for a meeting or teach another class, we teach our juniors and try to help them complete their coursework.” Peer learning is an important part of education in the more organised single-teacher schools.
Puja Kumari, 7, a Class II student, says, “When our teacher goes for a meeting, he tells the rasoiya didi (midday meal cook) to prepare food for us.” Every teacher must open the school so that the midday meal can be cooked and served, or else the children will go hungry.
In Vijaypur village, Julias Beck has spent the last five years single-handedly managing 56 students in an upper primary school. He says it is unfair to teach students all subjects without an expertise in them. “It deprives them of quality education,” says Mr. Beck.
“Between departmental reporting, administrative work, and managing classrooms, I hardly give my students the attention they deserve”Mohammed AzimuddinPrimary school teacher, Pokhri village, Latehar
The question of why
In the past decade, the Jharkhand Academic Council Board has conducted the Teacher Eligibility Test twice: in 2013 and 2016, despite the rules mandating that a State must hold it twice every year. Permanent and para teachers were appointed only in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
There’s a reason for the apathy. Prof. Jean Drèze, who teaches economics at Ranchi University, says, “The main reason is that the State government knows it can get away with ‘saving’ money by understaffing schools in deprived areas.” Here, people, mostly from Scheduled Caste communities, are unlikely to protest.
The stratification of the schooling system is reflected at the university level. “There are enormous disparities among students within the same class. The university curriculum is appropriate for the best students, but for many others, it is a mystery. They pass exams by the skin of their teeth, based on rote learning. Their degrees have little value, whether it is for the purpose of employment or enlightenment,” he adds.
A teacher takes a lesson at a government school in Rud village, Latehar district, north-western Jharkhand. | Photo Credit: MANOB CHOWDHURY
The old normal
Gulab Turki, 14, has gone from a single-teacher primary school to a single-teacher upper primary school in Garu block. “It’s difficult to concentrate on your task when sir teaches other classes, but that’s how it is,” she says. She struggles to spell in English. Asked to write ‘Umbrella’, she cannot go beyond the letter U, and is quickly embarrassed. Two-digit multiplication is a near impossibility, while her textbook has chapters on linear equations and algebra, English prose and poetry.
“The textbooks are made for privileged children who enjoy a good learning environment,” says Prof. Drèze, adding that the curriculum is developed for children to pass highly competitive exams at higher levels. “The system needs to focus a lot more on helping disadvantaged children, instead of picking and helping the winners,” he adds.
Single-teacher schools stand in direct violation of the RTE Act, 2009, which mandates a minimum of two teachers at all schools that have up to 60 students. | Photo Credit: MANOB CHOWDHURY
There is no one to hold elected representatives or appointed teachers accountable for their actions. Munna Ghasi, 14, a Class VII student, in Jamuna village, Latehar, says while his primary school teacher was diligent, the upper primary school teacher “is always on his phone, and barely teaches us”.
Chandharwa village, Latehar, with 40 households, doesn’t have motorable roads, but 50-60 students attend the village primary school. It has been months since the teacher took a class, and when she does show up, “she gives us biscuits, but not a midday meal”, says Riya Kumari, 10.
Peer learning is an important part of schooling in Jharkhand’s single-teacher government schools. | Photo Credit: MANOB CHOWDHARY
In Sonwar village in the district, Rajat Kumar Turki, 34, who runs a general store near the primary school, says the male teacher comes in inebriated. “This causes us a lot of distress as the children are very young,” says Mr. Turki. He points out that many of the parents go to work in far-off places and don’t have anyone to look after their children through the day. “Their teacher plays a crucial role. If they see him drunk every day, what will they learn from him?” he says.
Sitting inside schools with broken roofs, no electricity or water supply, dysfunctional toilets and water pumps, and a single teacher, batches of students spend years without access to age-appropriate, quality education.
Batches of students spend years without access to age-appropriate, quality education. | Photo Credit: MANOB CHOWDHURY
‘Lack of interest, investment’
James Haren, a Right to Food activist and active member of the civil society group protesting against single-teacher schools in Jharkhand, blames the many governments that have not been held accountable for their lack of interest in improving the education environment for marginalised communities and the lack of investment in the education sector in the past decade.
In April this year, after constant efforts by community members, the Jharkhand government announced the recruitment of 26,000 teachers in the first slot for 50,000 vacancies across the State.
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