150 Himachal Schools Run Without Teachers, 3,500 With Only One: Assembly Told

The challenge of teacher shortage in government schools was taken up in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, with the Education Minister acknowledging that a significant number of schools across the state have no teachers at all, while thousands more run with just one teacher.

During Zero Hour, Reena Kashyap, a legislator from the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, raised the matter for her Pachhad constituency. She said that 12 schools in her constituency do not have a single teacher, and several of these have more than 40 students. According to her, parents in some areas are pooling their own resources to hire teachers because the schools have been left without staff.

She also reported vacancies in schools in Narag and Sarahan, and said many posts for principals and lecturers are yet to be filled.

Responding to the matter, Education Minister Rohit Thakur said the state has the country's best Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) of 1:10, meaning one teacher is appointed for every ten students. A lower PTR is generally associated with better individual attention in classrooms. However, he conceded that remote and difficult areas continue to face staff shortages.

The minister said the government is trying to fill vacant posts in these areas through a rationalisation process. He added that there are various pressures involved in teacher deployment and that posting orders are sometimes revised. He did not elaborate on those pressures.

Thakur also said the state government has filled 9,000 teaching posts so far and that another 6,500 teachers will be recruited before the current government's term ends.

Despite these claims, data presented during the session showed that 150 schools in Himachal Pradesh are currently operating without a single teacher. Another 3,500 schools have only one teacher. Additionally, there are 2,500 schools where enrolment is fewer than 15 students.

The figures point to a distribution problem: while the state's average PTR is encouraging, specific schools and areas are left understaffed. Small schools with very few students may not attract full staffing, but even schools with over 40 students in Kashyap's constituency are reportedly without teachers, contradicting the state's overall ratio.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu intervened during the discussion and said the government is preparing a policy for teacher appointments in single-teacher schools. He did not provide a timeline for the policy's release.

Sukhu also mentioned that the central government has designated Sirmaur as an 'Aspirational District', a programme aimed at accelerating development in underperforming districts. He added that students from Sirmaur are successfully clearing written recruitment examinations, suggesting that local talent is available for teaching positions.

The issue highlights the gap between aggregate statistics and ground-level realities in school education. Having a favourable national or state-level teacher-student ratio does not automatically ensure that every school is adequately staffed, particularly in hilly and remote regions where schools may be small and scattered.

The government has maintained that it is committed to filling vacancies, but parents and local representatives continue to demand immediate measures for schools that have been without teachers for extended periods. With no specific timeline announced for the new policy on single-teacher schools, the affected communities are likely to continue pressing for action.