7,948 Assam schools without ideal pupil-teacher ratio
Assam's Education Minister Ranoj Pegu reported that nearly 8,000 government schools in the state fail to meet the mandated 30:1 pupil-teacher ratio. The report highlights significant infrastructure gaps, including a lack of separate classrooms in over 5,000 schools.
Why it matters
The findings underscore systemic challenges in rural education infrastructure and teacher deployment that directly impact the quality of learning for thousands of students.
Assam has 7,948 government and government-aided schools without the ideal pupil-teacher ratio of 30:1, Education Minister Ranoj Pegu told the 126-member State Assembly on Thursday (July 9, 2026).
Replying to separate questions by All India United Democratic Front MLA Mohammad Badruddin Ajmal and his Congress counterpart Asif Mohammad Nazar, the Minister said that the norm is to deploy two teachers per lower primary school while maintaining the pupil-teacher ratio, depending on student enrolment. This is because lower primary schools are generally located within a 1-km radius of one another.
“However, the 30:1 pupil-teacher ratio has not been maintained in 5,303 lower primary schools,” he said, citing UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education) data for 2025-26.
The data revealed that the number of upper primary, secondary, and higher secondary schools not maintaining the 30:1 norm is 1,253, 829, and 517, respectively.
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