Pupil teacher ratio at school level

Pupil teacher ratio at school level

The recruitment, service conditions and deployment of teachers are primarily in the domain of the State Governments and UT Administrations. However, the Central Government through the centrally sponsored scheme of Sarva Shiksa Abhiyan (SSA) at elementary level provides assistance to the States and UTs for additional teachers to maintain appropriate Pupil Teacher Ratio as per the prescribed norms for various levels of schooling.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 has been enacted for universalization of elementary education i.e. for classes I to VIII across the country. The RTE Act, 2009 in its Schedule lays down Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) for both primary and upper primary schools. At primary level, the PTR norm is 30:1 and at the upper primary level it is 35:1. As per the Unified District Information System For Education (UDISE) 2015-16, the PTR at national level for primary schools is 23:1 and upper primary schools is 17:1, which is better than the norm laid down in the RTE Act, 2009. The State-wise details of the PTR compliant schools in the country are at Annexure-I.

The Central Government has been consistently pursuing the matter of expeditious recruitment and redeployment of teachers to ensure adherence with norms of the RTE Act 2009 with the States and UTs at various forums. Advisories to implement the norms of the RTE Act have also been issued to States and UTs from time to time.