NEW DELHI: The capital’s school system continues to function under a major staffing imbalance—both within its own school categories and in comparison with several large states.

Fresh data presented in the Rajya Sabha shows that while government, private and government-aided schools in the capital collectively employ 1,61,958 teachers, the teaching load remains unevenly distributed and modest when set against national figures. The issue of teacher availability was raised by MP Tiruchi Siva, with state education minister Jayanth Chaudhary responding.

Delhi has 2,681 government schools staffed by 86,095 teachers, who alone make up 53.2% of the city’s school workforce. These teachers cater to nearly 24.7 lakh students, resulting in a student-teacher ratio of 29:1, one of the highest among major urban education systems.

In contrast, the national captals’s 2,637 private schools employ 71,004 teachers, or 43.8% of the total. With comparatively fewer students, private schools face significantly lower classroom congestion.

Government-aided schools occupy the smallest share, with 238 schools employing 4,859 teachers—just 3% of the overall teaching staff. When compared with larger states, Delhi’s teacher strength appears modest, though its population structure and geographic size differ.

Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest school system, has 2,62,358 schools and 16,15,427 teachers, nearly ten times Delhi’s count. Maharashtra, with 1,08,250 schools and 7,47,501 teachers, employs over 4.6 times more teachers than Delhi.

Smaller territories also show sharp contrasts: Chandigarh has 9,968 teachers across 207 schools—just 6% of Delhi’s total—while Goa, with 1,479 schools and 15,196 teachers, has less than 10% of Delhi’s workforce.

As the city expands infrastructure through model schools and CM Shri Schools, experts say teaching capacity has become a critical variable. Delhi-based educationists argue that unless the government increases recruitment, redistributes teachers and aligns staffing norms with real-time enrolment, the system will continue to face large class sizes and uneven learning outcomes.