HYDERABAD: On Friday, the School Education Department issued an order to reorganize school units and redistribute teachers to schools in need by reallocating surplus staff. This initiative aims to tackle the uneven distribution of teachers and the disproportionate student-to-teacher ratio in government schools.
The order instructs district collectors to transfer surplus teachers to schools with fewer or no educators. Adjustments must be completed by September 28, and a report is to be submitted to EV Narasimha Reddy, the Director of the School Education Department.
Recent UDISE+ data shows a year-on-year decline in enrollment in government schools. Analysis indicates that one contributing factor is the irrational allocation of teachers. Currently, the state-level teacher-to-student ratio stands at 1:17, which exceeds the minimum requirement of 1:30 under the RTE Act.
The department's review revealed discrepancies in teacher distribution, with some schools having more teachers than students and others being understaffed. This issue needs immediate attention to ensure quality education from primary to high school levels.
Narasimha Reddy explained to TNIE, “This is a localized adjustment to correct anomalies in schools where surplus teachers exist, while others are understaffed despite higher enrollment.”
The adjustments are intended to bridge the gap until the DSE recruitment process is completed. Reddy clarified that this order involves only internal teacher reallocations, not transfers. The adjustments should be finalized before the Dasara holidays.
Under the new directive, if two primary and two upper primary schools or two high schools operate on the same premises, they will be treated as a single unit for teacher allocation.
However, some educators have questioned the necessity of this exercise, given the ongoing recruitment of 11,062 new teachers.
Chava Ravi, General Secretary of the Telangana State United Teachers Federation, remarked, “The government is already in the process of hiring new teachers, and this measure seems to be a temporary fix. Many parents are frustrated with teacher shortages, and this year alone, 2.4 lakh students have moved from government to private schools due to insufficient staff.”