Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has asked district collectors to immediately deploy teachers in elementary schools for compliance with the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
In a letter to all district collectors August 6, School and Mass Education (S&ME) department secretary N Thirumala Naik said, “You are requested to immediately review status of all single teacher schools in your district and take urgent steps to deploy/adjust teachers so that every school has at least the minimum number of teachers as prescribed under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.”
Seeking an action taken report (ATR) within a fortnight, the secretary asked collectors that priority should be accorded to schools having higher student enrolment.
Official sources said that the state has as many as 1,458 single-teacher schools affecting the education of nearly 60,000 students as of the 2025–26 academic session.
While drawing the attention of district collectors, the secretary also mentioned in the letter that the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, particularly Sections 19 and 25 read with the Schedule appended thereto, prescribe the minimum norms and standards for schools, including the prescribed Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) and minimum number of teachers required in elementary schools.
“Recent UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education Plus) data shows that a considerable number of government schools in the state are presently functioning with only one teacher. Such a situation adversely affects the quality of education and is inconsistent with the norms prescribed under the RTE Act,” Naik mentioned in the letter.
Therefore, the secretary asked the district collectors to complete the rationalisation of such schools in a month and furnish an action taken report (ATR) in this regard to the department within 15 days of receipt of this letter. The matter may be treated as “most urgent”, he said.
PTI