631 teachers' posts vacant in government schools: RTI

Times of India: Mumbai:Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

There are 631 vacant posts of teachers in government aided schools in the city, a Right To Information (RTI) query has revealed.

This has raised questions about the state education department's claims of maintaining a good teacher-student ratio. According to the Right to Education (RTE) Act, teacher-student ratio should be 1:30 for lower classes (I-V) and 1:35 for higher classes (VI-VIII).

"There are many schools where students are suffering because of lack of teachers and the government has not looked into this problem yet. RTE guidelines need to be followed well or the entire purpose of the Act will fail," said Chetan Pednekar, an activist. He has received information from education officers in the western suburbs, south and central Mumbai. It shows that many schools don't even have a principal.

State education minister Rajendra Darda said the education department has recently approved teachers to many schools across the state. "We have had problems hiring maths and science teachers but the problem will be solved shortly. We have ensured that each school has the right number of teachers."