On the occasion of World Teacher’s Day, “United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)” released its “State of the Education Report (SOER)-2021 for India: No Teachers, No Class”, on October 5, 2021.

Key Facts

• This report is the annual flagship publication of UNESCO New Delhi. Report is prepared on the basis of extensive research.
• This is the third edition of the State of Education Report.
• This year, report focuses on the theme of “teachers, teaching and teacher education”, highlighting that work of teaching is complex.
• The report attempts to provide understanding on the key aspects of the teaching profession and also provides a profile of 9.6 million teaching workforce.
• Report also highlights the challenges of intricate teaching routine as well as their professional development.
• Findings in the report were prepared on the basis of analysis of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) and Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) data.

• As per report, there are around 1.2 lakh single-teacher schools in India. It accounts for 7.15 percent of 11.51 lakh schools. Out of this, 89 per cent are in rural areas.
• 51 percent of total schools are employing 95 lakh teachers.
• Report notes that, India requires 11.16 lakh additional teachers to meet the current shortfall.
• States with high percentage of single-teacher schools are- Arunachal Pradesh (18.22%), Goa (16.08%), Telangana (15.71%), Andhra Pradesh (14.4%), Jharkhand (13.81%), Uttarakhand (13.64%), Madhya Pradesh (13.08 %) and Rajasthan (10.08 %).