Pupil-teacher ratio, ghost enrolment and the meal register in a Durg block
On a supervisory visit to a government upper primary school in Durg district, the ADEO records the following. The attendance register shows 486 children. There are 9 sanctioned teaching posts, of which 7 are filled; of those 7, one teacher is on election duty for three months and one is on maternity leave, leaving 5 in position. Class VIII alone has 71 children in a room of about 18 square metres, and is being held in the veranda. Three kilometres away, a government primary school has 58 children and 3 teachers. The mid-day meal register shows 465 plates served daily for the last three months, while the attendance register averages 486; the foodgrain stock register does not tally with the daily issue register. On the day of the visit, 22 children on the rolls could not be located, and a teacher explains that their names are retained 'because they need the textbooks and the meal'. The head teacher has not convened a School Management Committee meeting for seven months.
1. Compute the pupil-teacher ratio at both schools, test it against the RTE Schedule norms, and set out what you can lawfully do about the shortage.
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Computation. Upper primary school: 486 ÷ 9 sanctioned posts = 54:1 on paper; 486 ÷ 5 teachers actually present = 97:1 on the ground. Primary school: 58 ÷ 3 = 19:1.
Test against the norms. The RTE Schedule prescribes 30:1 at primary level and 35:1 at upper primary school level. The primary school at 19:1 is well within the norm; the upper primary school breaches it on both computations, and the 97:1 figure is the one that describes what the children actually experience.
Lawful action. (a) One teacher can be rationalised from the primary school to the upper primary; the primary school would then stand at 29:1, still within the 30:1 norm. This must be done by written order under the State rationalisation policy, after hearing the teacher, and preferably not mid-session. (b) The election-duty post attracts a substitute or guest teacher under the State's rules - write to the CEO to sanction it. (c) The maternity-leave post can be covered by a temporary arrangement permissible under the leave rules. (d) The two substantive vacancies must be reported for adjustment from the block's surplus pool. Note the limit: a Class VIII with 71 children needs a subject teacher, not merely any additional teacher, so ask for a science or mathematics post specifically.
2. What is your finding on the 22 unlocatable children and the 486-versus-465 meal figure, and what procedure must you follow?
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Finding. The two facts are linked. If 22 names are retained for textbooks and meals while the children do not attend, the enrolment figure is inflated - this is a ghost-enrolment pattern, and the difference of 21 plates a day over roughly 90 days is about 1,890 plates plus the corresponding foodgrain. Retaining a name is not a welfare service; entitlement follows the child, and a child who is not there is not being fed.
Procedure, in order. (a) Verify the 22 names against the enrolment register, UDISE data, and a doorstep sample of five; give the head teacher three days to produce the children or explain. (b) Record the head teacher's written explanation in the inspection register. (c) Take certified copies of the attendance register, the meal register, the daily issue register and the stock register - do not conduct a personal inquiry into misappropriation yourself. (d) Report to the CEO, the DEO and the district mid-day meal nodal officer, because the matter may need a departmental inquiry and the foodgrain irregularity may attract a police complaint. (e) Ensure the meal continues to be served to the children who are present while the inquiry proceeds. Do not strike names off the register unilaterally before verification.
3. Recommend options for Class VIII's 71 children in an 18 square metre room, distinguishing what you can order from what you can only request.
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Diagnose the scale first. Seventy-one children in 18 square metres is roughly a quarter of a square metre per child, far below any reasonable classroom standard and below the Schedule's expectation of adequate space with one classroom per teacher. This is a structural breach, and it worsens the ratio finding above.
What you can order or arrange at block level. (a) Split Class VIII into two sections with a second teacher - this depends on the sanction, so record it as a recommendation to the DEO. (b) Shift one section temporarily to the primary school's spare room, 3 km away, with written parental information and a safe transport or escort arrangement; do not simply move children without informing parents. (c) Use the panchayat bhavan or community hall under a written memorandum with the Gram Panchayat, with a blackboard and lighting checked. (d) Run a shift - Class VIII in the morning and Classes VI-VII later - only as a dated temporary measure with a review.
What you can only request. A new classroom under Samagra Shiksha civil works through the CEO and Janpad Panchayat; land and boundary issues go to the panchayat. Put every option in the inspection report with a 90-day follow-up date, and record which option was actually implemented, so the file shows movement rather than a list.