Teacher you learn too filling school vacancies is essential so is doing this professionally rather than politically

Teacher you learn too filling school vacancies is essential so is doing this professionally rather than politically

While much attention has rightfully been on what India’s students have been missing out over the pandemic year, and what this has done to the learning outcomes that were worrying to begin with, a new Unesco report looks at the problem from the other end: What is the state of teachers who are expected to help improve the state of our children? Analysing the recently published UDISE+ data for 2019-20, the report estimates vacancies in 19% of all schools on average, with some states much worse off. Just imagine the impact of a vacancy on single-teacher schools, which form only 7% of the total but almost all of which are located in rural areas.

Teachers are involved in several non-teaching activities too such as coordinating midday meals, registering children for Aadhaar, election duty and vaccination drives. The case for filling the teacher vacancies is obviously rock solid. But how they are filled is critical. Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand see rules of recruitment being changed year to year, suggesting political influences, while Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have “a systematic, technology-based, transparent system of recruitment, employment and transfer”. The spread of teacher eligibility tests is helping improve standards but these also need improvement, being oriented to do subject testing rather than test teaching practice.

Basically quality matters. The country is now awash in educated youth looking for good jobs. To take the last two decades’ gains in enrolment and learning to the next level, India now needs to incentivise smart young people to take up the teaching profession and train them well. Upskilling is critical for the existing workforce as well. For example 66% of them report opening hyperlinks with difficulty and a lot of help, or never. Regular and effective support for these teachers is a necessary condition for them to provide the same to students.