Bengaluru: There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel for students studying govt. schools in Karnataka. The Department of Public Instruction, is trying to redestribute teachers, but has faced brickbats for its efforts.

Currently, there are some schools that do not have adequate teachers and combine classes to keep students “engaged”, while some others have no work as there are not enough students. The move to redeploy teachers is an annual exercise carried out by the department to bring out a balance. The department identifies excess teachers where the pupil-teacher ratio is less than 1:40 in primary classes and has one teacher per subject.

Commissioner for Public Instruction Mohammad Mohsin said these teachers would be posted to schools within the district based on the direction of the Finance Department, as they had said that excess teachers causes a burden on the State exchequer.

However, the definition of having a PTR of 1:40 is a violation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Act, 2009, which states that the PTR should be 1:35 in upper primary classes and one teacher for each subject.

Besides, the move to transfer has been opposed by teachers, who say that they would face hardship. Karnataka State Primary Teachers’ Association president Basavaraj Gurikar opposed the move.

“We want the government to redefine the norms for redeployment. If the government follows the 1:40 pupil teacher ratio, many schools may not have one teacher per class,” he said.

Although the Commissioner has specified the calendar of events and has said that the final list of excess teachers should be published by Monday, many districts are yet to collate this information.