{
  "id": 12085853,
  "title": "World Teachers’ Day: What global shortages and India’s numbers tell us",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/05/world-teachers-day-what-global-shortages-and-indias-numbers-tell-us",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-05T05:34:26.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express",
    "slug": "the-indian-express",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/education/world-teachers-day-unesco-ilo-observation-oecd-pupil-teacher-ratio-more-students-less-teaching-staff-sbi-research-udise-10906887/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "World Teachers' Day is celebrated today, with a warning from UNESCO that the world needs 44 million more primary and secondary teachers by 2030 to achieve universal basic education. India alone requires 7.8 million teachers to bridge this gap. Teacher shortages are present in wealthy nations as well, such as the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and even within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries.\n\nThe student-to-teacher ratio in India is significantly higher than the OECD average, particularly in primary education, where India has 27 students per teacher compared to an OECD average of 14. This gap is also noticeable when compared to major economies like the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and others.\n\nA recent SBI Research report highlights variations in pupil-teacher ratios (PTR) within India, with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Goa having a PTR of around 14, while states like Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh have much higher ratios of 57, 48, and 33, respectively. However, this report specifically focuses on higher education and should not be used to compare with school-level figures.\n\nBased on the Universal Deworming Initiative Survey (UDISE+) data for 2024-25, India's PTR at the primary level was 20, 17 at upper primary, 15 at secondary, and 23 at higher secondary. These figures differ slightly from the OECD's classification. The OECD's figure for India is 27 for primary, 19 for lower secondary, and 21 for upper secondary in 2024. The OECD's methodology, based on the number of students relative to teaching staff, is reported separately for each education level.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Economic Times",
        "title": "EAM's message to diplomats on India’s global role",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/05/eams-message-to-diplomats-on-indias-global-role",
        "published": "2026-10-05T02:04:35.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "IOL",
        "title": "India’s 18th BRICS Summit focuses on trade, technology and Global South cooperation",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/05/indias-18th-brics-summit-focuses-on-trade-technology-and-global-south",
        "published": "2026-10-05T04:30:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}