Patna, July 3: State education minister P.K. Shahi today highlighted the issue of poor quality education in government schools stating that Bihar was “sitting on volcano” and corrective measures must be taken to improve the system.

He regretted lack of quality education that hindered the progress of a staggering 20 million schoolchildren in Bihar.

“We have a staggering 20 million students studying in schools from classes I to X for whom we must provide quality education and equip them with linguistic skills to enhance their prospects,” Shahi said at a function today.

He added: “We must address the aspirations of our students for better education otherwise we are sitting on a volcano,” he said, referring to the high number of students enrolled in schools with 90 per cent transit rate in higher classes every year.

The education minister’s statement assumes significance because after the implementation of Right to Education (RTE) Act, the state government is facing multi-faceted challenges like teacher shortage, lack of infrastructure and above all, providing quality education to children.

The biggest challenge before the state was to check the high dropout rate of students. According to education department sources, though the enrolment rate of students in government schools is as high as 90 per cent, the attendance is less than 50 per cent. In some districts, it is even less than 30 per cent.

To upgrade teacher training programme, the state government had even approached the World Bank to provide loans for teachers’ skill enhancing under which training institutes were to be strengthened. However, even after a year the project is in the pipeline.

A senior officer with the education department said: “The biggest reason behind poor quality education in government schools is lack of insufficient teachers. The student-teacher ratio in high schools (classes IX, X) is 163:1, which is huge. Moreover, contract teachers account for more than 70 per cent of the total number of teachers in Bihar.”