India, Feb. 21 -- The state government's revised teacher approval policy has sparked alarm among education activists and teachers' representatives, who warn that nearly 90 government-run secondary schools in Mumbai and around 620 across Maharashtra may not receive even a single sanctioned teacher post under the new system.

They fear the move could eventually push several smaller schools towards closure.

Under the earlier policy, teacher posts were sanctioned based on a school's total student strength. The norm allowed one teacher for every 20 students. This meant that if a school had 40 students across different classes, it was eligible for at least two teachers, irrespective of how the students were distributed across standards.

Howev...