– Ronita Torcato

Maharashtra’s revised teacher approval policy (Sanch Manyata) mandates that teacher posts be sanctioned based on class-wise enrolment rather than total school strength, with a minimum of 20 students per class required for sanctioning a regular teacher post. The policy has restricted teacher allocations in low-enrolment schools across the state, triggering protests by education activists and teacher unions.

The policy, introduced in March 2024 and subsequently updated, has entered a stricter implementation phase. A government resolution issued on August 5 has set a 15-day deadline for processing teacher approvals. Teachers and parents have raised concerns that the policy could lead to the rationalisation or merger of low-enrolment schools and the transfer of teachers, potentially disrupting students’ education and affecting teachers who have served in neighbourhood schools for years.

The debate also needs to be viewed against existing norms governing teacher deployment. The Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, prescribes a pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of 30:1 for primary classes and 35:1 for upper-primary classes. In Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) prescribes an upper limit of 40 students per classroom.

Dr Kranti Kiran Farias, historian, author and educator, said smaller class sizes could benefit students but cautioned against transferring teachers solely because of low enrolment.

“Small numbers are good, but impractical if teachers are suddenly transferred from schools where they have worked for many years. Such transfers can be unfair, particularly for teachers who have spent much of their careers in the same school,” she said.

Farias also called for a closer examination of the reasons behind low enrolment in municipal schools. “Municipal schools largely serve children from low-income and low-literacy backgrounds. The government should conduct a systematic survey to understand why some children are not attending school and address the reasons behind this,” she said.

Parent and environmentalist Zinnia Khajotia welcomed the prospect of smaller classes but said the implications of school closures or consolidation needed greater clarity.

“If the 20-student benchmark is implemented effectively, it could benefit students. However, when a school faces closure or consolidation, parents need to know what happens to the students. Are they offered places in nearby schools? Who decides where they go? These questions need clear answers,” she said.

Khajotia suggested that greater participation from the private sector could also be explored to improve government-school education. She proposed a model in which the government provides infrastructure while corporate organisations support school management, faculty development and quality improvement, with outcomes made publicly available.

Activist Adil Desai, meanwhile, expressed concern that school consolidation could disproportionately affect children from low-income families who depend on neighbourhood government schools.

“If students from two or three schools are brought together and the remaining schools are closed, children may have to travel considerably farther. For families with limited resources, this could discourage regular attendance and potentially increase the risk of dropouts,” he said.

The Maharashtra debate comes against the backdrop of a wider decline in the number of government schools across India. 94,000 government schools have closed across the country between 2014-15 and 2024-25, according to a NITI Aayog report ‘School Education System in India: Temporal Analysis and Policy Roadmap for Quality Enhancement’ (May 2026).

As things stand, India’s public expenditure on education remains at around 4.1% of GDP, well below the 6% of GDP target recommended by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Meanwhile, the Cockroach Janta Party has launched its #SchoolThikKaro (#FixTheSchool) campaign, highlighting infrastructure deficiencies in government schools and calling for corrective action.

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