Over 2,100 government-run and government-aided schools in Odisha are being run with only a single teacher, school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash said here on Wednesday.

Bhubaneswar, July 20 , 2022:  Over 2,100 government-run and government-aided schools in Odisha are being run with only a single teacher, school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash said here on Wednesday.

Replying to a question raised by BJP MLA Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia in the state assembly, Dash said the state has 30,377 primary schools; 19,238 upper primary schools; 2,601 English medium schools and 10,017 high schools.

A total of 2,107 schools, functioning in all 30 districts of Odisha, are having only one teacher each. Of them, 1,672 schools are being run under the school and mass education department while remaining 435 are government-aided schools, said the minister.

As per the written reply of Dash, Mayurbhanj district has the highest 190 such schools followed by Ganjam district with 169 schools.

Similarly, 153 schools in Keonjhar district, 130 schools in Sundergarh and 119 in Balasore district are also running with a single teacher.

In another reply, the minister informed the Assembly that the government’s per child expenditure at primary education level has been increased from Rs 9,184 in 2014-15 to Rs 25,041 in the year 2021-22.