Teacher-student ratio to be key factor in merger of West Bengal govt schools

Kolkata, Jan 13 With West Bengal education minister Bratya Basu recently hinting at merger of government-run schools, the department’s officials have started working out a strategy to implement the unification, keeping in mind a balanced teacher to student ratio in each amalgamated school.

Insiders from the state education department said they have identified those schools in West Bengal which currently do not have a single student enrolled.

Currently the total number of such schools in the state stands at 3,254. However, as pointed out by school education department insiders, as many as 14,627 teachers are attached and officially employed with such schools.

On the other hand, departmental insiders added, there are 6,366 schools in the state which have 100 or more students enrolled but have just one teacher each.

“The idea now is to merge two or more schools under both these categories depending on the proximity of such schools to achieve balanced teacher to student ratios in the merged entities,” said a senior official of the state school education department who did not wish to be named.

Currently, the average number of students in each school in West Bengal is 192 and the average number of teachers per school is 6, thus making the average teacher to student ratio 1:32.

The school education department is confident that the merger of different schools will help the state government achieve a more balanced teacher- student ratio.

Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the students’ wing of CPI(M), however, feels that by opting for the merger of schools the state government is adopting a short-cut route without addressing the chronic problem of lack of academic infrastructure in government schools.

According to the SFI leadership, by merging schools the state government is avoiding the necessity of more employment of teachers in government schools, an area which is already saddled with corruption.

Source: IANS