Agartala: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha informed the Assembly on Tuesday that 302 primary schools under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) are being operated by a single teacher.
The TTAADC, which administers Sixth Schedule areas covering two-thirds of the state, runs 1,387 primary schools with a total of 30,273 students and 3,504 teachers.
To address the shortage, the state government has deputed 709 teachers to these schools, Saha said while responding to a calling attention motion by Tipra Motha Party MLA Pathan Lal Jamatia.
“Although the student-teacher ratio is balanced overall, the presence of 302 single-teacher schools highlights the need for a more even distribution of educators in TTAADC-run institutions. Addressing this issue will significantly improve the situation,” Saha stated.
The chief minister also pointed to a declining birth rate and the rise of English-medium schools as key factors contributing to low student enrollment in these schools.
He reiterated the government’s commitment to improving education in tribal council areas, announcing that Rs. 1.20 crore has been allocated for school repairs in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
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Saha further disclosed that the state spends approximately Rs. 66.98 crore annually on salaries for teachers deputed to these schools.
He also highlighted a significant decline in dropout rates, with primary-level dropouts decreasing from 0.90% in 2017-18 to 0.5% and secondary-level dropouts falling from 27.10% to 10.4%.
Factors such as child marriage, economic conditions, and challenges in teaching-learning processes continue to contribute to dropout rates in tribal areas, he added.
