Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE)

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TEACHERS ANDTEACHING IN INDIA

CREATE INDIA POLICY BRIEF 5

JANUARY 2011

TEACHERS AND TEACHING IN INDIAThis policy brief provides an analysis of teachers and teaching learning processes in two states ofIndia. Data was collected from 88 schools in three clusters in Madyha Pradesh and Chhattisgarh(Dindori, Rewa and Rajnandgaon) using CREATE’s Community and School Survey (ComSS).This policy brief provides an analysis of that data and suggests some policy implications. Whilemuch progress and investment has been made in recent years, the analysis suggests thatproblems remain with teacher numbers, deployment and training. This policy brief was written byMadhumita Bandyopadhyay, S. Umabati and Benjamin Zeitlyn.

The Role of Teachers in Achieving MeaningfulAccess to EducationIt is widely acknowledged that teachers have apivotal role in the development of an inclusiveeducation system. Availability of qualified, trainedand highly motivated teachers is an importantfactor in ensuring meaningful access to education.According to Govinda and Varghese, “Teacherqualification and training coupled with a highmorale and positive perception of the academicability of the learners constitute a powerful set offactors determining the learning levels of thechildren” (Govinda and Varghese, 1993:10).

In view of this, many countries, including India,spend a large proportion of their education budgetson teachers’ salaries and their professionaldevelopment. The teaching and learning processfaces challenges in situations such as singleteacher and single class schools. The SeventhAIES (NCERT, 2005) shows that 15% of allprimary schools in India are single teacher schoolsand around 12% of primary schools have a single-classroom (Mehta, 2010). 80% of primary schoolshave three teachers or less, though there are fivegrades in the primary cycle. This means thatmultigrade teaching is inevitable and must befactored in to policy making and planning. Thispolicy brief explores issues related to teachers and

teaching using the data collected through theComSS.

The three clusters covered in the CREATE studyrepresent different socio-economic situations, withRajnandgaon being the most developed, whileRewa and Dindori lag behind. Tribal groups makeup a high proportion of the population of DindoriCluster. CREATE’s conceptual model includes adefinition of meaningful access which defines it asaccess to education which results in (i) regularattendance (ii) progression (iii) learning; and (iv)appropriate access to post-primary education(Lewin, 2007). The clear concern is that withoutadequate deployment, attendance and training ofteachers these elements of meaningful access willnot be possible.

Policy InitiativesThe National Commission on Teachers (1983-85)observed: “To recruit teachers more scientifically,the desirable competencies of teachers should belisted on the basis of practical and appliedresearch”. It is argued that high proficiency in theteaching subject, good linguistic ability, efficiency incommunication skills and love for children aresome of the desirable qualities of a good teacher(Arora, 2002:93).

TEACHERS AND TEACHING IN INDIA

Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE)

http://www.create-rpc.org Tel: 00 44 (0)1273 877984 create@sussex.ac.uk

The National Policy on Education (1986)emphasised that: “The method of recruitment ofteachers will be reorganised to ensure objectivity,merit and conformity with spatial and functionalrequirements”. Generally the desert, hill, tribal andremote areas have difficulty with recruitment andplacement of teachers. In addition to recruitment,efficient deployment of teachers, teacher transferand promotion are also important issues thatimpact on teacher availability and retention.

A task force was constituted by the NationalCouncil for Teacher Education (NCTE) in 1999 toevolve eligibility criteria for the recruitment ofteachers. The NCTE has already issued anotification relating to teachers’ qualifications.Despite this, recruitment of well-qualified teachersand retaining them in the teaching profession is achallenge. Nonetheless, in order to implement theRTE Act, efforts are to be made to meet thischallenge. In the next section we provide a briefanalysis of the ComSS data to provide somebackground about teachers in the three clusters.

Teachers’ ProfileMost of the schools in all these three clusters havetwo teachers and five grades. A large number ofschools in Rewa and Dindori clusters are still singleteacher schools as many of these are run underthe AIE/EGS schemes. If teachers and pupilsbelong to the same social group and culturalbackground, this can result in a positive attitudetowards students, which in turn can create ahealthy classroom environment facilitating learning(Rawal and Kingdon, 2010).

Data collected in the three clusters suggests thatwhile people from Other Backward Castes (OBCs)and general castes are in the majority inRajnandgaon and Rewa districts, scheduled tribesare in the overwhelming majority in Dindori district.The pattern of social background of teachersfollows the same pattern. In Rajnandgaon mostteachers are from OBCs while in Dindori, themajority of teachers belong to the category ofscheduled tribes (STs). In Rewa, most teachersare from the general castes category.

Provision of TeachersThe teacher is the central figure in organising andmanaging any school. Timely recruitment ofteachers and their rational deployment in schoolsare core functions that every school system has tomanage. The average pupil teacher ratios (column4 in Table 1) at the district level appear to besatisfactory but the variations in PTR ranges within

each district indicate problems of very uneventeacher deployment (column 5 in Table 1).

Table 1: Enrolment, Teachers and Classrooms

Districts students teachersaverage

PTRPTRrange

Rajnan-dgaon

4,734 136 35:113 -

132:1

Rewa 3,157 101 31:1 3 - 87:1

Dindori 1,737 52 34:1 12 - 75:1

Table 2: Teachers per school

A large proportion of schools continue to be singleteacher schools (Table 2). In fact, only a smallnumber have all 5 teachers to teach all 5 primaryclasses. The more under-developed the cluster isthe more single teacher and two teacher schoolsare to be found. Some small schools have toomany teachers (one for every three students) whileothers are severely lacking (one teacher for 87children). One government primary and middleschool in Rewa has 7 teachers for its 11 students.In terms of the gender balance of teachers, 16 outof 35 schools in Rewa and 18 out of 23 schools inDindori have no female teachers. In addition, allthree clusters experience significant levels ofteacher absenteeism with around 80% attendanceon the day of the visit (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Teacher attendance on day of visit

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The low motivation and lack of incentives forteachers to serve in remote rural areas are barriers

number of teachers

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0 9 7 4 2 7 29 136

Rewa 10 12 3 2 3 5 35 101

Dindori 8 10 2 1 0 2 24 52

Total 19 31 12 7 5 15 88 289

TEACHERS AND TEACHING IN INDIA

Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE)

http://www.create-rpc.org Tel: 00 44 (0)1273 877984 create@sussex.ac.uk

to the efficient deployment of teachers. So also isthe lack of a proper database on the location andutilisation of teachers at the school level.

Academic and Professional QualificationsThe level of academic and professional qualificationof teachers is another important factor that ensureseffective learning in schools. The study suggeststhat the number of teachers with postgraduatequalifications is highest in Rajnandgaon districtfollowed by Rewa. In Dindori district, the ratio ofteachers with postgraduate qualifications to thosewith undergraduate qualifications is almost 50:50.

Despite high levels of academic qualification verylarge proportions of teachers are untrained. InRajnandgaon cluster, around 25% of teachers wereuntrained. In Dindori cluster 67% of teachers wereuntrained (Govinda, 2008).

The majority of schools (90%) in Rajnandgaonhave some trained teachers whereas in Dindorionly 41% of schools have some trained teachers.However, even in Rajnandgaon there are a fewschools where there is no trained teacher.According to the data, there are 21 schools (out of30) of Rajnandgaon, 28 schools (out of 35) in Rewaand only 3 schools (out of 23) in Dindori where allteachers are trained. Figure 2 throws some light onthe types of problems faced by teachers.

Figure 2: Problems faced by teachers by levelof qualification

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Poor subject mastery of teachers is a majorconcern, with large proportions of even very wellqualified teachers reporting difficulty teaching anysubject. The frequency with which difficulties werereported was twice as high amongst Grade 10qualified teachers (40%) as amongst those withunder graduate and postgraduate qualifications(20%). Some teachers reported that they didn’t feelcompetent to teach the subject that they were

assigned to teach, although this proportiondecreased with higher levels of qualification. Manyhad problems with multi-grade teaching, althoughthis is a common phenomenon in most of theschools.

This is a disturbing situation especially whenconsidered alongside levels of teacherabsenteeism, poor attainment, grade repetition anddrop out which are all substantial in these threeclusters and which are discussed in other policybriefs. Together they result in many being “silentlyexcluded”.

The majority of teachers provide extra time tochildren with poor attainment. Post-graduateteachers reported doing this more than teacherswith lower levels of qualification. Figure 3 showsthat very few teachers meet parents to inform themabout their child’s poor performance, and that thehigher the level of the teacher’s qualification, theless likely that they are to meet the parents. Only14% reported that they changed the seatingarrangements to help improve the students’performance.

Figure 3: Special Care taken by teachers forchildren with poor attainment

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Policy Recommendations

Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs) must bemaintained between 30 and 35:1 in all schoolsto ensure that averages do not conceal theschools with very high or low PTRs. The ratioof pupils to qualified teachers should also beincreased so that all children have access toqualified teachers.

A proper database on the number and status ofteachers in schools must be kept in order toensure the proper deployment of teachers, andto maintain equitable and efficient pupil teacher

TEACHERS AND TEACHING IN INDIA

Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE)

http://www.create-rpc.org Tel: 00 44 (0)1273 877984 create@sussex.ac.uk

ratios. More efficient regulation of teacherdeployment will help to utilise the skills ofteachers where they are most needed andmake the most of government investment inteachers.

Improved teacher management systems areneeded with more transparent processes ofrecruitment, posting and promotion. Currentstrategies and programmes, such as thoserelated to quality improvement and teachereducation are quite insufficient and only covera limited number of teachers.

Incentives are needed to encourage highquality teachers to work in remote and ruralareas. This could be in the form of allowancesfor serving in remote rural areas, provision ofgood accommodation and/or priority forpromotion.

There are a large number of single or twoteacher schools. Multi-grade teaching istherefore a common necessity. Many teachers,even those with postgraduate qualificationsface difficulties with multi-grade teaching. Thisproblem is accentuated with untrained or poorlytrained teachers. Multi grade teaching methodsshould be given a higher priority in teachertraining. More attention and resources shouldbe committed to ensuring the proper training ofall teachers.

In view of the poor subject mastery of teachers,professional development of teachers needs toinclude subject upgrading as well as pedagogiccontent knowledge. Teachers should beencouraged to receive further education toimprove their subject knowledge.

Higher academic and professionalqualifications do not ensure that teachersactually attend school regularly or help childrenwith poor attainment. There are no establishedpractices for addressing the needs of childrenwho have low achievement, attend irregularlyand who repeat years and are at risk of dropout. It is essential that teachers have a toolkit ofinterventions designed to support those at riskof drop out for use within the school and withinthe family and the wider community.

Schools need to be child friendly and childseeking and teachers’ need to follow up thosewho show signs that lead to early drop out.

Selected References

Arora, G. L. (2002) Teachers and theirTeaching Need for New Perspectives, RaviBooks, Delhi.

Govinda, R. and Varghese, N. V. (1993) Qualityof primary schooling in India-A Case study ofMadhya Pradesh, IIEP, UNESCO.

Govinda, R. and Bandyopadhyay, M. (2008)Create, Access to Elementary Education inIndia Country Analytical Review, July,Pathways to Access, create-rpc.org.

Govinda, R. (2008), School Quality andPhenomenon of Silent exclusion: Access,Equity and Participation, Paper presented inCREATE-RECOUP Seminar, December, in IIC,New Delhi.

Lewin, K. 2007. Improving Access, Equity andTransitions in Education: Creating a ResearchAgenda CREATE Pathway to Access ResearchMonograph No. 1 Brighton University of Sussex

Mehta, A.C. (2010) Elementary Education inIndia-Progress towards UEE, NUEPA, New-Delhi.

NCERT (2005) National Curriculum Frameworkfor Teacher Education, National Council forTeacher Education, New-Delhi.

Rawal, S. and Kingdon, G. (2010). Akin to myteacher: Does caste, religious or genderdistance between student and teacher matter?Some evidence from India. DoQSS WorkingPaper No. 10-18, October, London: Universityof London. Available from:http://www.isid.ac.in/~pu/conference/dec_10_conf/Papers/ShenilaRawal.pdf (Accessed onDecember 5, 2010)

Seshadri, C. (2002) Educating the Educators,Review of Primary Teacher Training in R.Govinda (ed.) India Education Report-A Profileof Basic Education, Oxford University Press,New-Delhi, 2002.

CREATE is a DFID-funded research programmeconsortia exploring issues of educational access,transitions and equity in South Africa, India,Bangladesh and Ghana. For more information goto: www.create-rpc.org