Government School Teachers in India

For several decades now, the public image of government schoolteachers has been a serious cause for concern. The “learning crisis” (as it is popularly referred to) that has garnered so much public attention has been attri­buted to teachers—their classroom practices, absenteeism, work shirking and involvement in local as well as party politics (Muralidharan et al 2014; Kingdon et al 2002). Increasing enrolment in private schools is also blamed on government schoolteachers. At the same time, it is indeed interesting that policy documents continue to see schoolteachers as the cornerstone of the education system. The draft National Education Policy, 2019 declared,

None of this (facilitating transformation of the education system) will be possible without passionate and committed school teachers and faculty in higher education institutions who will take charge of transforming the education system … (p 31, Draft NEP 2019)