New Delhi, Sep 4 - Low salaries, little motivation and temporary appointments -- India's school teachers are faced with myriad problems. But the task before the country is to overcome the huge shortfall of teachers, specially in remote areas, and provide them effective training to make them competent enough to influence future generations, say experts.

At a time when India is on the verge of educational reform, the big problem is that quality education is not possible without quality teachers.

'Teachers training is very important. We need to contextualise the training process. While upgrading our textbooks, the competence of teachers needs to be upgraded,' said Rukmini Banerji, director (research and assessment) of voluntary organisation Pratham, which conducts regular surveys on schools in India.

'The Right to Education bill, which has already been passed by parliament, opens up opportunities but what is now required is effective teachers training,' Banerji told IANS Friday, the eve of Teachers Day.

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal had last week said the country needs to train at least two million teachers in the next few years.

'I am disappointed with the institutes providing training to teachers. We need to have a re-look at them,' Sibal had told reporters here after having discussions with parents, students, teachers, academics and CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) stakeholders on examination reforms,' he said.

While millions of students in the country do not go to school or drop out before reaching Class 5, over 16 percent of schools in the country still have only one teacher. Uttar Pradesh still faces difficulty to provide even a single full-time teacher in 921 primary schools.

A study in 10 districts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh by Pratham has found that over 65 percent of teachers in both government and private schools fail to solve simple mathematics of class 5 level.

'This is a clear indicator of what ails our teachers,' Banerji argued.

Said Dhanada Mishra, a social activist who left his job in the US to work in the education sector of Orissa: 'Payment is not a problem for permanent government school teachers these days. The problem is inequitable distribution of teachers. Many don't want to get posted in a rural area. By using political connections they stay in the cities where the problem is not acute.