A scheme has been framed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development Department to provide elementary education both to upper and lower primary level students. Govt. of West Bengal in collaboration with the Union of India has taken a project of SARBA SIKSHA ABHIJAN (S.S.A.) in 2003.

Para-teachers, sometimes called "Contract teachers", are being hired in increasing numbers in many Indian States. While hiring conditions, tenure, remuneration and qualifications vary considerable across states. In addition, para¬teachers are about twice or thrice as cost effective as regular teachers given their effectiveness in imparting learning, at a cost to the taxpayer of only one-third to one-half of the reguiar teachers.Some professionals argue that the current teacher compensation system in India is unprofessional and anti-teacher as it does not reward performance.

A popular criticism of the use of para-teachers is that their lower teacher training leads to poorer quality of teaching. However, the existing evidence does not support this hypothesis. All of the available studies on this issue so far show that the training achievement levels among children taught by para and regular teachers are similar.

For a single professional ladder for Para-Teachers and regular teachers merit serious consideration because building promotion incentives into teacher contracts can be helpful in raising teacher effort and motivation levels. They would also help do away with the existing "dual" system of regular and para-teachers which creates tension amongst teachers and is detrimental to their morale.