RTI ACT Naina Mishra Chandigarh, November 18 According to an RTI reply, the Department of Education does not have any compiled record of teachers, students and vacancy of subject teachers at each school, which is important for making decisions such as rationalisation of teachers. An inquiry under the RTI Act sought information regarding the number of teachers deployed at all government schools of the UT, number of students enrolled in schools and the number of vacancies from the UT School Education. The reply sent by the UT School Education Department reads: “No such compiled information is available in the domain of this office.” The department also claims to monitor daily attendance of teachers through an electronic attendance system, but failed to submit the record of teachers deployed at each school. The record also holds importance for accessing surplus and deficit teachers at schools to ensure rationalisation of posts and transferring teachers as per the need. Poor governance The National Institute for Smart Government (NSIG), a non-profit company incorporated in 2002 by the Government of India, had suggested some measures to states and UTs for effective working. These included checking whether the teacher-student ratio is maintained, the number of teachers posted in rural areas and maintaining computerised record. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has time and again laid emphasis on maintaining records related to teachers and students for effective governance. Even in September this year, to facilitate the education system to be responsive to school-specific needs and analyse school reports to initiate appropriate policy interventions, the status of all government and government-aided schools on facilities related to teachers and the student was accessed by the Centre. This was done to ensure authenticity of data on various portals and give feedback on various dimensions at all levels. Every state and UT had appointed a nodal officer and coordinators at the district level to make sure that this exercise was performed correctly. Lack of compiled data for students and teachers is an evidence of poor governance by the UT.

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