Bhubaneswar: School and mass education department has directed all district collectors to review single-teacher elementary schools (classes I to VIII) immediately and deploy or adjust teachers to ensure that every school meets the minimum staffing norms prescribed under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009.Commissioner-cum-secretary of the school and mass education department, N Thirumala Naik, in a letter to all the collectors recently, asked them to complete the rationalisation of single-teacher schools within a month and submit an action-taken report within 15 days. Schools with higher student enrolment have been asked to be given priority.The initiative comes following the release of Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2025-26 by ministry of education recently, according to which the number of such schools in Odisha has increased by 34% as compared to the previous academic session of 2024-25.Referring to the latest UDISE+ data, the commissioner-cum-secretary said such a situation adversely affects the quality of education and is inconsistent with the norms prescribed under the RTE Act. The latest UDISE+ 2025-26 data show that the number of govt schools functioning with just one teacher increased from 1,089 in 2024-25 to 1,458 in 2025-26, a rise of nearly 34%. The number of students enrolled in these schools also rose from 47,940 to 59,672 during the same period.The increase comes despite the state govt’s efforts to accelerate teacher recruitment and address vacancies to maintain Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) in govt schools.As per the RTE Act, 2009, the Pupil-Teacher Ratio norms for primary (classes I to V) and upper primary (VI to VIII) levels are 30:1 and 35:1, respectively. According to the latest UDISE+ report, the PTR at the national level for the foundational (classes I and II) level is 10:1, preparatory (III to V) 12:1 and middle (VI to VIII) school level is 17:1. In Odisha, the PTR stands at 8:1 at foundational level, 10:1 at preparatory level and 14:1 at middle school level.
