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Teacher shortages in rural schools are not a strange phenomenon across the world. In both developed and developing countries, governments struggle to balance the distribution of teachers as most recruits prefer to be deployed in urban schools for various reasons (Hudson & Hudson, 2008). Largely, this is often attributed to the living conditions in rural and remote areas, which most teachers consider less bearable. For schools that are set in rural areas, therefore, their conditions in turn largely influence the decision of potential teachers to opt for the rural schools (Sisouphanthong, Suruga, & Kyophilavong, 2020). Compared to cities, rural areas are relatively enclosed and have little communication with the outside world, especially the areas with severe environments and blocked traffic (Peng, 2015). As observed by Mulkeen and Chen (2008), any trip away from the rural area, to visit a doctor, to collect pay, to engage in in-service training, or to visit family may involve long journeys. In addition, teachers also walk long distances to school, affecting their overall motivation to keep working.
Due to the various factors that act as deterrents to most teachers, rural and remote schools are often left with underqualified and unqualified teachers. Burnett and Lingam (2007) note that well-qualified teachers prefer to teach in urban schools. Further, for new teachers, the inherent physical and social characteristics of rural communities can result in experiences of isolation (Mandina, 2012). Even in highly developed countries such as Australia, USA and Canada, rural schools face limitations in recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers for reasons such as: funding issues, a lack of rigorous training and certification options available, and geographic and social isolation (Department for Education, 2018). This contributes to ever-dwindling quality of education delivered to the students in the rural and remote schools.
The various challenges that affect teacher presence in rural and remote schools have necessitated the initiating of programmes and policies aimed at narrowing the teacher disequilibrium between rural and urban schools. This is the case because the disinterest to work in rural and remote areas emanates from the lack of additional incentives for teachers to work in the rural and remote schools. Incentivization has often taken the form of rural and hardship allowances, teacher housing (and allowances for the same in the absence of enough houses) in the rural and remote areas, and in-service training for rural teachers (Sisouphanthong, Suruga, & Kyophilavong, 2020). As argued by Salifu and Agbenyega (2013), hardship allowances for posting teachers to rural areas among others are a good step towards teacher motivation. In developed countries such as USA, Canada, Australia and Germany for example, a range of financial incentives have been put in place to motivate teachers. The incentives include bonuses for hard-to-fill subjects, loan forgiveness, tuition or loan reimbursement, holiday travel expenses, rural relocation allowances, bursary schemes, and assistance with relocation and housing support (Department for Education, 2018, p.9). In Africa, various countries have also introduced varying teacher incentivization policies. In Tanzania, for instance, the rural hardship allowance was introduced in 2008. According to the Teacher Education and Development Management Strategy – 2007/08 to 2010/2011, a special allowance of 25% above the normal salary was to be introduced for teachers in remote, rural and difficult areas by January, 2008 (MoEVT, 2007). There have also been hardship allowances in Gambia, Lesotho, Mozambique (location allowance) and Malawi for teachers in the rural and remote locations (Mwenda & Mgomezulu, 2018).
Similarly, most Asian countries have also deployed deliberate policies aimed at mitigating the teacher equilibrium challenge. As is the case with developed countries in the West and fellow developing countries in Africa, countries such as Philippines, Cambodia, and Laos have been implementing various teacher-motivating strategies as part of their recruitment policies (Sisouphanthong, Suruga, & Kyophilavong, 2020). In China, there have been housing, monetary and in-service training policies for teachers as well (Peng, 2015).