Para Teachers (SSA)

Para-teacher scheme and quality

Education for all in India: Policy perspectives and challenges for school effectiveness.

Saroj Pandey - Department of Teacher Education and Extension, NCERT,

India Improvement in the quality, efficiency, and equity of education, to a considerable extent, depends on the nexus of teaching and learning, which is in turn influenced by the quality of teachers. The teacher has been identified as the single most important factor influencing the quality of education by the Indian Education Commission and the National Policy on Education.

Consequently, the government of India, like that of many other developing countries, has been trying to meet the challenge of improving the quality of education by improving teacher quality on several fronts—by raising pre-service education requirements, improving teacher training, increasing the diversity of the teaching force and promoting stronger participation by local government and community organizations.

However, the appointment of contract teachers, popularly termed as ‘para- teachers’, in the primary education sector at a mass level raises serious question regarding the quality of education at primary level, as in the majority of schemes the academic and professional qualifications for these teachers have been relaxed and lowered as compared to those of regular teachers. They are also paid less. Therefore, a peculiar situation is prevailing in India’s primary schools where we have two sets of teachers appointed as ‘regular’ and ‘para-teachers’ working in the same school and performing the same duties, but are governed by different service conditions. This situation raises questions such as ‘Can India aspire to quality education and school effectiveness in such a situation?’, ‘Who are these para-teachers, what is the rationale behind their appointment and how widespread is the practice?’ These and other important concerns are discussed in this paper, and the implications identified for school effectiveness and quality of primary education in India.

Introduction

Vygotsky’s (1978) socio-cultural theory of learning entails that learning occurs through social interactions as learners engage in culturally meaningful, productive activity with the responsive assistance of a more competent other. Department of Teacher Education and Extension, NCERT, New Delhi-16, India.  
Email: pandey_saroj_@hotmail.com
Journal of Education for Teaching Vol. 32, No. 3, August 2006, pp. 319–334 ISSN 0260-7476 (print)/ISSN 1360-0540 (online)/06/030319-16 

There is ample improvement in the quality, efficiency, and equity of education, to a considerable extent, depends on the nexus of teaching and learning, which is in turn influenced by the quality of teachers. The teacher has been identified as the single most important factor influencing the quality of education by the Indian Education Commission and the National Policy on Education. Consequently, the government of India, like that of many other developing countries, has been trying to meet the challenge of improving the quality of education by improving teacher quality on several fronts—by raising pre-service education requirements, improving teacher training, increasing the diversity of the teaching force and promoting stronger participation by local government and community organizations. However, the appointment of contract teachers, popularly termed as ‘para- teachers’, in the primary education sector at a mass level raises serious question regarding the quality of education at primary level, as in the majority of schemes the academic and professional qualifications for these teachers have been relaxed and lowered as compared to those of regular teachers. They are also paid less. 

Therefore, a peculiar situation is prevailing in India’s primary schools where we have two sets of teachers appointed as ‘regular’ and ‘para-teachers’ working in the same school and performing the same duties, but are governed by different service conditions. This situation raises questions such as ‘Can India aspire to quality education and school effectiveness in such a situation?’, ‘Who are these para-teachers, what is the rationale behind their appointment and how widespread is the practice?’ These and other important concerns are discussed in this paper, and the implications identified for school effectiveness and quality of primary education in India

Para-Teachers

The policy of appointing para-teachers came in response to the challenge of providing universal access to primary education. It has three aspects :-

  • There are a sizeable number of small size habitations in remote and tribal areas in some states, which are widely scattered and the children of these habitations do not have access to primary school within a radius of one kilometer. Therefore, local teachers from the communities are appointed, on a comparatively lower salary.
  • Secondly, para- teachers are also posted in regular schools to ensure a minimum of two teachers in every school. There are a sizeable number of single-teacher schools in most of the states.
  • Thirdly, to resolve the adverse pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) or in other words to overcome the teacher shortage, para-teachers are appointed in regular schools.
  • There are many vacant posts of teachers in some states, partly because of the retirement of teachers and partly due to the increase in enrolment. State governments found it difficult to fill up the vacancies with teachers in regular pay scales due to paucity of funds. In order to meet the rising demand for teachers they resorted to the appointment of teachers often termed as ‘para teacher’ on contract basis, on specified terms and conditions. At present 66379 para teachers are working in the state in primary and upper primary section.