Maharashtra Education: The state has over 18,000 teacher vacancies and was unable to construct toilets due to funding shortages. Telangana schools have 11,000 vacancies.

According to the minutes of the Project Approval Board (PAB) meetings held by the ministry of education to determine funding allocation for Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, there are 11,348 teaching positions vacant in Telangana and 18,204 teaching positions vacant in Maharashtra at the elementary level (Classes 1 to 8). (SSA). Pupil-teacher ratios (PTRs) below the acceptable threshold were present in 38.8% of Telangana’s schools, according to data from the education ministry. The Right to Education (RTE) Act requires a PTR of 30:1 for grades one through five and 35:1 for grades six through eight in elementary schools.

According to the PAB minutes for 2022, there are over 5.6 lakh teacher openings in 15 Indian states, with Bihar and Uttar Pradesh having the most shortages.
Additionally, Telangana schools reported having a “surplus” of close to 7,000 elementary teachers. This suggests that while there are many open positions in some schools—likely those in urban areas—other schools have an excess of teachers.

According to data from the education ministry, Telangana schools also had roughly 5,000 open teaching positions at the secondary level. The study showed that only 79 per cent of Telangana’s secondary schools have teachers for all four essential subjects.

Teacher vacancy; funds shortage

Despite having approximately 18,000 teacher openings, Maharashtra education has an acceptable PTR at the elementary level. For instance, the PTR for upper primary schools is 23.27. However, due to a lack of funding, Maharashtra was unable to finish outstanding primary-level civil work for the previous two fiscal years, according to the PAB minutes.

“State has prioritised pending projects for the 2020–21 fiscal year. But because of a lack of funding, ongoing civil works were unable to be finished. Only Rs 6.31 crore was received for the fiscal year 2020–21 compared to the Rs 146.54 crore that had been granted for civil works, and for the current fiscal year (2021–22), no money was given to the state for non–recurring operations, according to the PAB minutes. According to the PAB minutes from the education ministry, Maharashtra declined to start the second-level civil works that had been approved due to a lack of funding for the financial year 2021–22. For instance, due to a shortage of funding, Maharashtra was unable to begin the building of 133 of the 139 bathrooms for boys in government secondary schools that had been approved.