Tripura’s Chief Minister informed – tribal majority area has 302 single-teacher primary schools.

Chief Minister Manik Saha on Tuesday informed the Assembly that the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) has 302 single-teacher primary schools. The autonomous district council runs 1,387 primary schools in Sixth Schedule areas in the northeastern state.

The TTAADC area is two-thirds of the state’s territory and is the home to the tribals. Replying to a calling attention motion moved by Tipra Motha Party (TMP) MLA Pathan Lal Jamatia, the Chief Minister who holds the Education portfolio simultaneously, informed TTAADC runs 1,387 primary schools with 30,273 students and 3,504 teachers. To counterfeit the shortage of teachers in TTAADC-run schools, the state has sent 709 teachers to these institutes on deputation, he said.

“Even if the student-teacher ratio is good in tribal council-run primary schools (9:1), 302 schools are functioning with single teachers. It shows there is an urgent need to ensure the even-handed distribution of teachers in TTAADC-run schools. If we could do it, the problem will be addressed“, the CM reiterated. He also explained the reasons behind the low enrollment in the tribal council-run schools.

• Low birth rate (12.0 against 1000) is the root cause of low enrollment in these schools.
• opening of English medium schools is also another factor in the declining trend in student enrollment.

Claiming that the state is committed to provide quality education to the students of tribal council-run schools, he said Rs 1.20 crore has been given to the TTAADC authorities to undertake repair works of various schools during 2024-25.

“The state spends a substantial amount to pay the salary of the teachers who were posted in different schools on a deputation basis. It comes to around Rs 66.98 core annually“, he informed.

Mr. Saha has also revealed the drop-out figure in the TTAADC-run primary schools, which is 0.90% in the primary level, 27.10% in the secondary level during 2017-18; while it came down to 0.5% & 10.4% respectively. Child marriage, teaching-learning problems, economic conditions and opening of English medium schools are responsible for the drop in tribal areas.

Team Maverick