Teacher availability in elementary education has improved with the additional recruitment of 15.06 lakh teachers funded under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan programme. The national pupil teacher ratio in government and government aided schools is 28:1 at primary, 31:1 at upper primary and 34:1 at secondary level as per Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) of 2013-14. Over 25 crore children are enrolled in classes I to XII in the country.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides for free and compulsory elementary education to all the children of the age of 6 to 14 years in a neighbourhood school. Section 11 of the RTE Act also provides that the appropriate Government may make necessary arrangements for pre-school education. A Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) sub-committee was setup on 4th August, 2011 to consider the extension of RTE Act, 2009 to pre-primary classes. Final recommendations have not been received.

This information was given by the Union HRD Minister Smt Smriti Irani in a written reply to Rajya Sabha question today.

Soource: Press Information Bureau