4,060 guest teachers in Haryana get sack notice

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 22

Complying with the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s directions, the Haryana Government today issued final notices to 4,060 guest teachers, paving the way for their removal. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, however, promised to find a way out for the teachers within the framework of law.

“In compliance with the directions passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court dated May 11, 2015, the guest faculty working as social studies and mathematics masters and Hindi teachers in the government schools of the state are hereby given a 24-hour notice to show cause as to why their services should not be dispensed with,” an order of the Director General, Elementary Education, read.

In a damage-control exercise, Khattar claimed the government was considering to relax the maximum age limit for the guest teachers and other parameters in future direct recruitment.

The CM’s assurance notwithstanding, the BJP, which rode to power on the promise of the regularisation of guest teachers, is faced with a legal dilemma as the selection criteria adopted by the previous Congress government in selecting them had not found favour with the high court and the Supreme Court.

As many as 15,405 guest teachers were recruited in 2006 to tide over the shortage of regular staff. Over the years, regular teachers were appointed, leading to surplus of Trained Graduate Teachers (TGTs) of mathematics, social studies and Hindi. The state government recently filed an affidavit in the high court, which asked it to dispense with the services of 4,073 teachers. Haryana Guest Teachers’ Sangh chief Rajinder Sastri criticised the “use and throw” policy of the BJP government and reminded it of its promise of regularisation of their services  in  the run-up to the 2014 Haryana Assembly elections.