TISS flags teacher crunch in core subjects; Rajasthan’s rural schools face bigger challenge

Jaipur: A teacher may be present in a school, but that does not always mean a child has access to the teacher they need. That is one of the larger concerns emerging from the latest national assessment of India’s teaching workforce — and it has relevance for Rajasthan too, particularly its rural and smaller government schools.

The State of Teachers, Teaching and Teacher Education in India (SoTTTER) 2025 report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) found that schools surveyed across 10 states reported shortages in key subjects. Mathematics and science emerged as the biggest gaps, with 35% of schools reporting shortages, followed by English at 31% and regional languages at 30%.

The report also found that having a teacher on the rolls does not necessarily mean having the right subject expertise in the classroom. Only 51% of mathematics teachers surveyed had studied the subject at the undergraduate level.

Rajasthan was not among the 10 states covered in the TISS survey, but the issue of teacher availability and deployment remains relevant to the state. Official school education data shows that thousands of government schools continue to function with very small teaching teams.

According to UDISE+ data cited by the Union education ministry, 7,200 schools in Rajasthan have only one teacher. While the state has a relatively favourable overall student-teacher ratio, such averages can hide the situation inside individual schools, particularly those in rural and remote areas.

This is where the real challenge lies. A school may have an acceptable teacher-student ratio on paper but still struggle because it does not have a dedicated mathematics, science or English teacher. In smaller schools, one teacher may also have to handle more than one grade or subject.

For teachers themselves, the problem is not only classroom workload. The TISS report also points to administrative responsibilities and the difficulties of retaining teachers, particularly in rural areas.

For Rajasthan, therefore, the conversation around teacher shortages needs to move beyond simply counting vacancies. The bigger question is whether schools have teachers with the right subject expertise, and whether those teachers are reaching the schools where they are needed most.

Recruitment will remain important, but so will rational deployment, timely filling of subject vacancies and better support for teachers working in rural and remote schools.

For a child sitting in a classroom, the distinction is simple: it does not matter how many teachers the system has on paper if there is no mathematics or science teacher available when the lesson begins.

Image Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/education/35-indian-schools-face-maths-science-teacher-shortage-tiss-report-flags-major-staffing-gaps-article-156118454/amp