Kolkata: Ahead of the next Supreme Court hearing on 26,000 teaching posts, which is slated for Tuesday, the state education department has initiated a comprehensive data collection. This includes gathering information on the teacher-student ratio and the status of vacant posts in state schools.
Sources said a form mentions a set of questions, including the total enrolment of respective school classes from V to XII, the total number of sanctioned posts of teaching staff, including Group-C and Group-D staff, and the total number of vacancies as per sanctioned posts and vacancies created due to retirement and resignations, number of litigation certificates, etc.
A source in the school education department stated that a notable decline in enrolment across the state has largely impacted overall teaching and learning in state schools. In the latest report, it was found there was an imbalance in cases where some schools have an extreme staff crunch compared to the total strength of students, while some schools have an excess number of teachers, with very few or even zero students in some cases. The department took this drive to get the latest report before starting rationalisation to balance these two. Moreover, the department is getting prepared to handle the emergency situation determining the fate of 26,000 teaching posts.