India has 10 lakh teachers shortage; UP, Bihar, Bengal has over 1 lakh vacancies: UNESCO Report

The report, also states that while teacher availability has improved, pupil-teacher ratios are still adverse in secondary schools.

This third edition of the State of Education Report focused on the theme of teachers, teaching and teacher education, underscores that the work of teaching is complex. It attempts to provide an understanding of key aspects of the teaching profession, provides a profile of the 9.6 million teaching workforce, as well the challenges of their intricate teaching routine and their professional development.

“India has made enormous strides in the education sector in the past decades and teachers have been integral, in this progress. The National Education Policy 2020 recognizes and identifies teachers as the heart of the learning process, and that is why we decided to dedicate the 3rd edition of our State of the Education Report for India, to them. Without teachers, there can be no class,” Eric Falt, Director, UNESCO New Delhi.

Poor student-teacher ratio

The new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 envisions 100 percent enrollment in schools by 2035, while with such high number of teacher shortages this seems a distant dream.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)report mentions that schools in India still lack enough teachers and struggle with poor student-teacher ratios while up to 69% of its teachers are working without job contracts.

It further reports that in the government sector, the overall number of school teachers with contracts of more than three years’ duration is as high as 67%. “However, 28% of primary and secondary school teachers are found to be working with no contract. In the early childhood education sector, only 49% of teachers report having contracts of longer duration than three years, while 35% report having no contracts. In the special education sector, only 13% report having contracts of more than 3 years’ duration, and 80% have no contracts," the report states.

Poor working conditions in Northeast

The report talking about schools located in the Northeastern part of the country and inspirational districts states that their working conditions are poor and there is a marked rural-urban disparity in terms of basic amenities as well as information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure.

The National Education Policy (NEP), adopted in 2020, acknowledges teachers as crucial elements in the learning process while stressing the importance of their recruitment, continuous professional development, good work environment and service conditions.

The teaching workforce in the country has a deficit of over 1 million teachers at current student strength and the need is likely to grow, given the shortages of teachers in certain education levels and subjects such as early childhood education, special education, physical education, music, arts, and curricular streams of vocational education, states the report.

The report also states that private school teachers and early childhood education teachers are highly vulnerable groups, with many working without contracts at low salaries, with no health or maternity leave benefits.

Dr Sridhar Srivastava, Director, National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) said: “It is time for the world to recognize the exceptional role teachers play in the life of children. NCERT is committed to empower them with training, professional development, and academic support. We need to invest our efforts in their capacity building and professional development so that educators can enrich their practice to adapt to diverse learners’ needs.”

As per a statement by UNESCO, with an in-depth analysis of the current state of teachers in India, highlighting best practices, the UNESCO State of the Education report for India 2021 aims to serve as a reference for enhancing the implementation of the NEP and towards the realization of the SDG.4 target 4c on teachers.

The report also looks at teachers’ experience of ICT and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the teaching profession. The ongoing pandemic has drawn attention to the centrality of the profession and the importance of the quality of teaching. During this unprecedented health crisis, most teachers were found to have positive attitudes and beliefs about integrating technology in education, even though they perceived a lack of professional skills.

The report concludes with a set of ten action-oriented recommendations to address the challenges facing the teaching profession in India, and thus help achieve the NEP 2020 vision and objective – “Ensuring quality education for all in the country”.

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The ten recommendations are:

• Improve the terms of employment of teachers in both public and private schools
• Increase the number of teachers and improve working conditions in North-Eastern states, rural areas and 'aspirational districts
• Recognize teachers as frontline workers
• Increase the number of physical education, music, art, vocational education, early childhood and special education teachers.
• Value the professional autonomy of teachers
• Build teachers' career pathways
• Restructure pre-service professional development and strengthen curricular and pedagogical reform
• Support communities of practice
• Provide teachers with meaningful ICT training
• Develop teaching governance through consultative processes, based on mutual accountability

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