Parliament Question: Single Teacher Schools in Maharashtra

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION 5937 ANSWERED ON - 30/03/2026 Single Teacher Schools in Maharashtra 5937. Shri Rajabhau Parag Prakash Waje: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) the total number of Government schools in Maharashtra, where only one teacher is presently working, despite multiple classes and subjects being taught, district-wise; (b) whether the Government is aware that such single-teacher schools violate National Education Policy (NEP) norms and severely compromise learning outcomes, especially in rural and tribal areas and if so, the details thereof; (c) the details of steps taken by the Central Government under Samagra Shiksha to ensure immediate appointment, rational deployment and financial support to eliminate single-teacher schools; and (d) the time-bound roadmap to ensure that every school has the minimum required teachers in the said State? A N S W E R MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a) to (d): Education being a subject in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, and majority of the schools in the country comes under the administrative control of respective States/UTs. Further, the recruitment and other service condition matters of teachers come under the purview of the respective State Governments/UT Administrations. There are no separate teachers as sanctioned by the Centre and all teachers are ultimately the responsibility of the State/UT Government. Samagra Shiksha only provides lump sum (aggregate) support as per the availability of funds, as per the programmatic and financial norms. However, such support would be based on certain desirable guiding principles and required to be followed by the State/UTs. The recruitment of teachers in schools is a continuous process and the vacancies keep arising due to retirement, resignation and additional requirements on account of enhanced students’ strength/new schools. The Central Government has been consistently pursuing the matter of expeditious appointment and redeployment of teachers with the States and UTs. Advisories to maintain appropriate Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) have also been issued to States and UTs from time to time. Further, periodic review meetings are conducted with the State/UTs and are advised to reduce the number of single teacher schools in the State if any.***