Question

what arw the problems that a teacher of remote rural area may face in using Information and communication technology

Answer 1

Rural education problems

One of the biggest concerns of educators across the world, and especially in India, is making the present generation learners future-ready. India is relatively young as a nation with around 28 million youth population being added every year. More than 50 per cent of its population is below the age of 25 and more than 65 per cent are aged below 35. In 2020, the average age of an Indian is expected to be 29 years, while it will be 37 for China and 48 for Japan. However, India's high youth population won't be of help to the economy if universal education is not achieved all over India.

The main problem India now faces is that all the pedagogical innovations are fit to improve the quality of urban education while the rural learners and their education remain largely neglected. With 65 per cent of the population residing in rural India, education there truly deserves much more attention, especially when it is plagued with so many problems - dearth of teachers, teacher absenteeism and poor quality of teachers.

1. Non-permanence of teachers is demotivating

Most of the schools in rural areas are run by the government. They appoint ad hoc teachers, instead of permanent ones, who are poorly paid as compared to the huge remuneration of a full-time Trained Graduate Teacher (TGT).

Moreover, promising career prospects, which is quite a motivation booster, is almost nil for the non-permanent teachers.  This leads to dissatisfaction, eventually resulting in a dearth of teachers because they move away to more permanent jobs.

2. Late or blatantly absent

Lack of accountability of teachers and school authorities has raised the rate of absenteeism. School Development and Management Committees (SDMCs), comprising parents and members of the local community, have been entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing teachers and their duties. However, research suggests that the committee has hardly seen success.

3. Non-teaching duties

Moreover, non-teaching duties like election invigilation often keep teachers away from schools. Furthermore, teachers often have to report for duty far away from their home. With an inadequate transport system in rural India, the distance only adds to their woes and often results in absenteeism.

4. Exemption from TET

Several states have exempted candidates from Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) as only 20 per cent of the aspirants clear it. This wrong move, in an attempt to quickly fix the issue of dearth of teachers, has deteriorated the quality of education in the states even further. However, quality of teachers is a major concern not only in these states, but across the entire country.

5. Lack of quality teacher training

There are many private teacher-training institutes in India, but the quality of the training they provide is unsatisfactory. Continuous professional development is a motivator for teachers, and enough attention is needed in this regard.