76% Goa govt schools have under 50 students: Centre

PANAJI: The Union education ministry's annual review of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan in Goa points to the poor state of govt schools as well as the teacher education institute in Goa. The ministry officials said that, as per Goa govt presentation, 76% govt schools in the state have an enrolment of less than 50 students.
Almost 29% govt schools in Goa have a single teacher.
Besides this, the State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has 73.3% of its faculty positions vacant. The district institute for education and training (DIET) has 79.2% posts vacant, despite the previous assessments by the ministry pointing out these deficiencies.
Not filling vacancies may affect flow of central funds
As per the presentation shared, out of the total 814 govt schools in the state, one school is with zero enrolment, 624 schools are with less than 50 enrolments, and 235 are single-teacher schools. The secretary for state education and literacy (of the Union education ministry) suggested that Goa needs to ensure rationalisation of schools and ensure sufficient number of teachers in all schools, especially at the elementary level," said the minutes of the meeting of the review.
The review is conducted for implementation of the programmes during the previous academic year and for allotment of funds for the next academic year (2024-25).
The officials said that the number of schools with an adverse pupil-teacher ratio at the elementary level was 32.7% in Goa.
In the case of single-teacher schools, the lone teacher is left to run the school by teaching students in multiple classes at a time (usually from Classes I to IV). Simultaneously, she also handles school administrative work, affecting the quality of teaching offered at the school.
"There is a high vacancy of academic positions as per state sanctioned posts in the SCERT (73.3%) and DIET (79.2%). Considering the important role of these institutions in empowering teachers, the vacant positions in the SCERT and DIETs may be filled on priority to strengthen these institutions," the Union education ministry officials said.
They also said that the release of central funds to DIET in Goa under the DIETs of Excellence scheme may be affected if the existing vacancies are not filled by June 30, 2024.
The SCERT plays an important role in implementation of provisions of the national education policy (NEP), 2020, in states, by helping revamp and update state school syllabus and by assessing the quality of teacher training and helping upgrade their skills accordingly. Similarly, DIET offers the diploma in teacher education, the essential qualification for employment for primary school-level teachers.