1 week ago
Rural Government Schools Face Teacher and Toilet Crisis
A school in Rajasthan has many students but too few teachers and only one classroom.
About 90 children and four teachers share the school.
The school’s toilets do not work, and it has no playground, library or boundary wall.
India’s Right to Education law says schools should have enough teachers and basic facilities.
Activists say similar problems exist in government schools in several states.
Official education data says most schools have separate toilets, but it does not show whether all of them work.
More than 100,000 schools reportedly have just one teacher.
Education groups say many teacher jobs are vacant.
They want the government to improve school buildings, staffing and cleaning.
A government primary school in Amruka, Rajasthan, has one classroom, 90 students and four teachers.
The school lacks a boundary wall, playground and library, while its separate toilets are unusable.
The Right to Education Act requires specified teacher ratios, functional facilities and separate toilets for boys and girls.
More than 100,000 schools nationwide reportedly have only one teacher, serving over 2.9 million students.
Activists and education groups blamed teacher vacancies and inadequate maintenance, while official data reported high toilet availability.
- Who
- Students, teachers, activists from Social Jurist, government schools and education groups including the RTE Forum.
- What
- Reports highlighted violations or possible shortcomings in teacher staffing, toilet maintenance and basic infrastructure at government schools.
- Where
- The featured school is in Amruka village, Deeg district, Rajasthan; similar protests and shortages were reported in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra.
- When
- Social Jurist visited the Amruka school on August 1; the report also cited UDISE data for 2025-26 and said the RTE Act had been implemented 16 years earlier.
- Why
- Activists and education groups attributed the problems to inadequate government spending, teacher vacancies and poor maintenance.
Activists and Education Groups
Official School Data
Availability versus usability
Activists and Education Groups
Activists and teachers described nonfunctional or unclean toilets and said schools lacked basic infrastructure and adequate staffing.
Official School Data
The UDISE 2025-26 report recorded separate toilets in most schools, although it did not state how many were functional and did not provide boundary-wall data.
Reasons for the crisis
Activists and Education Groups
Ashok Agrawal called the neglect a planned design, while the RTE Forum cited more than 800,000 vacant teacher posts.
Official School Data
The article provides no direct government response to these allegations.
Key facts
- Featured school
- Government Primary School at Amruka village in Deeg district, Rajasthan
- School enrollment and staff
- About 90 students and four teachers in one classroom
- RTE teacher norms
- One teacher per 30 students in primary classes and one per 35 students in upper primary classes
- Missing facilities
- The school reportedly has no boundary wall, playground or library
- National single-teacher schools
- More than 100,000 schools, serving over 2.9 million students, reportedly have a single teacher
- Teacher vacancies
- The RTE Forum coordinator said more than 800,000 government-school teacher posts were vacant
- Official toilet figures
- UDISE 2025-26 reported separate toilets in 98.5% of schools for girls and 97.2% for boys
Quotes
Tribhuvan Singh
State vice-president of Uttar Pradesh Prathmik Shiksha Mitra Sangh
“The government knows that children belonging to poor families come to government schools. The government does not want to spend on their education. It can still manage to get their votes by giving them freebies. The government wants financially well-off parents to send their kids to private schools.”
telegraphindia.com
“It is practically impossible for a teacher to teach students of all five classes in one room. But they have no choice. The picture is similar in most government schools across all states.”
telegraphindia.com
Sources
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