Poor pupil teacher ratio a cause of concern for Chandigarh education department

The adverse pupil to teacher ratio (PTR), at elementary level, at some of the city schools was one of the issues flagged in the minutes of the Project Approval Board’s meeting for the recently released Samagra Shiksha (SS) scheme. 

The meeting is held annually by the central government, which provides funding to the UT education department. Union ministry of education secretary Sanjay Kumar was present during the meeting.

Among the UT-specific issues, it was noted that there were 123 total schools in the city with 10% or 12 of the total schools having an adverse PTR at the elementary level.

The pendency in infrastructure facilities was also highlighted. From the pre scheme era (before the 2018-2019 academic session), construction of 224 additional classrooms was approved but 47 classrooms are still pending. 

Without enough classrooms, the said ratio is also affected. 

The department is also yet to construct one information and communications technology (ICT) lab and one smart classroom.

The UT has been asked to finish these projects within the current financial year.

28.75% vacancies in State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) were also pointed out.