Guwahati: Assam has 2,670 govt schools run by a single teacher, state education minister Ranoj Pegu told the assembly on Thursday, adding that there is currently no primary school without a teacher.Pegu added the number of govt-run schools has fallen by about 8,000 over the past decade.
Data tabled in the House showed that govt higher secondary schools rose from 925 in 2016–17 to 1,256 in 2024–25, while other categories declined. Primary schools fell from 39,986 to 33,394, upper primary schools from 7,832 to 6,343, and high schools from 3,485 to 3,307. Overall, the total number of govt schools dropped from 52,228 to 44,300.Pegu was replying to a question by Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi on the status of quality education in the state’s schools.Leaving out the headmaster, the minister said there are 4,041 schools with five classes where the number of teachers is five or more. He also said 1,733 schools with six classes have six or more teachers, excluding the headmaster.The minister said 13,614 primary schools do not have permanent headmasters, while 3,402 upper primary schools are without permanent headmasters.On vacancies, Pegu said upper primary schools have 4,805 vacant teacher posts, including 3,006 assistant teachers, 1,197 Hindi teachers and 602 science teachers.High schools have 7,396 vacancies, including 1,924 science teachers, 650 mathematics teachers, 3,750 arts teachers and 1,072 Hindi teachers, he said.Higher secondary schools have 242 vacancies, including 72 science teachers, 66 mathematics teachers, 98 English teachers and six Hindi teachers, the minister said.In the tribal-inhabited Sixth Schedule districts, Pegu said there are 713 teacher vacancies in high schools across science, maths, arts and Hindi, while higher secondary schools have 76 vacancies in English, Hindi and mathematics.
