Only about 800 schools out of around 15,000 in Karnataka, including private and government institutions, have teachers for all core subjects, a survey by Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) has revealed.

According to The Times of India report by Pavan MV, the study done by RMSA, a scheme funded by the government, showed that more than 70 per cent of the schools had just two language teachers and one each for Mathematics and Science.

It also revealed that less than half the schools have a social studies teacher.

RMSA attributes the teacher shortage to non-sanctioning of posts, lack of effective teacher deployment and size of the school. The scheme recommends demand-supply synchronization of teachers, maintaining of a database, bringing together small schools and increasing the number of teachers in tribal areas.

However, a senior official from the primary and secondary education department was quoted as saying, “We don't know the basis of the RMSA study. We have a good number of core subject teachers. In keeping with the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) norms, we are planning to recruit more teachers to fill vacancies in secondary schools.”

Niranjanaradhya VP, fellow at the Centre for Child and the Law, NLSIU, said: “There is a severe shortage of Hindi teachers in secondary schools. As per the rules, the government upgraded some higher primary schools (till class7) to class 8; even they lack subject teachers for class 8.”