Over 12,000 Assam schools fail to meet pupil-teacher ratio

There is only one teacher each in nearly 3,000 government elementary schools of Assam while in more than 12,000 elementary schools (including lower and upper primary), the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of 30:1 and 35:1 has not been achieved yet, the state government told the Assam assembly on Thursday.

In a written reply in the house to a question by Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi, education minister Ranoj Pegu said according to U-DISE (database about schools in the country) data, the state has 2,979 single-teacher schools.

Of these, 2,959 are lower primary (till Class V) and 20 are upper primary schools (classes VI to VIII). A contrary picture is visible in another 1,860 government primary schools, where the minister informed that there are six teachers each. While 1,045 of these schools are lower primary, 815 are upper primary.