Patna: The government conceded there were 1,500 government primary schools in Bihar which were running on single teachers.

Parliamentary affairs minister Srawan Kumar, while replying to a question by Sanjay Sarogi of the BJP, who alleged that around 5,000 primary schools were running on single teachers, said initially there were 4,000 primary schools run by lone teachers.

"Later teachers were transferred and now the figure remains at around 1,500. The education department has written to authorities concerned to appoint additional teachers in these schools," he said.

Sarogi, however, said even in the past similar orders were issued by the department which were never implemented. "One can imagine the standard of education in these schools where teachers are also engaged in non-teaching activities 15 days a month," Sarogi said.

The minister assured the House that additional teachers would be appointed in the schools soon.

RJD MLA Samir Kumar Mahaseth pointed out the fact that out of the over seven lakh students who had failed in the Intermediate exams last year, less than two lakh sat for the compartmental examination.

"What happened to the rest?" Mahaseth asked the minister, adding that the government should make a drive to convince such students to sit for the examinations again.

Srawan Kumar said local MLAs should play a pro-active role in this.

In response to a question regarding admission of students of Scheduled Caste category in Master of Education (MEd) course of Patna University, minister Srawan assured the House that steps were being initiated to lower the minimum marks required for seeking admission to such courses.

The question was raised by Shyam Rajak who said in the Master of Education course of 2016-17 batch only two of the eight seats earmarked for Scheduled Caste students were filled because most Dalit students did not meet the 50 percent minimum marks criteria for admission. He called for a change in criteria.