Description

Teacher absenteeism is a substantial and growing problem in developing countries. The benefits from the growing success in getting children in school are thus undermined as learning time is reduced. The issue of teacher absenteeism is rapidly becoming an important topic area of educational policy analysis largely because of its direct impact on the quality of instruction and its association with poor participation in school reform efforts. According to the World Bank Report 2004 - An average 19 percent of teachers were absent from schools in Bangladesh, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Peru, and Uganda. Of the present, not all were actually 'working'. In India 1 in 4 schools teachers in government schools were absent and only about half were teaching, during unannounced visits to a nationally representative sample of government primary schools in India. Absence rates varied from 15% in Maharashtra to 42% in Jharkhand, with higher rates concentrated in the poorer states. Instruction suffers when teachers are absent from their classes. A substitute teacher generally cannot maintain the continuity and quality of instruction that the regular classroom teacher can.