Vacant posts: Govt on job to meet HC deadline

Bhanu P Lohumi

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Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 3

Racing against time to meet the deadline set by the High Court for filling vacant posts of teacher in government schools, the Education Department has taken up a comprehensive rationalisation exercise for the judicious deployment of teachers, besides drawing a timeline for their fresh recruitment by August.

Keeping in view the number of students in each school, the rationalisation of teachers has been completed in Kangra, Hamirpur, Chamba, Shimla, Solan and Una, while only one school is left in Mandi district. As many as 100 schools with zero enrolments have been closed and teachers were adjusted in other schools that were facing a shortage.

Twenty per cent posts of Trained Graduate Teacher (TGT) are being filled through promotion, 37.5 per cent by batch-wise seniority and remaining 37.5 per cent through the Himachal Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission (HPSSSC). In all, more than 3,700 posts will be filled. Out of the total 3,100 vacant posts of primary teacher (junior basic training), 50 per cent will be filled batch wise, while the remaining 50 per cent will be filled through the HPSSSC.

“There has been a decline of 22 per cent in the enrolment of students during the past five years and a few primary schools with less number of students are running close to some other schools and a proposal has been floated for the merger of these schools in the second phase of rationalisation,” Arun Sharma, Secretary (Education), said.

Proposals have been posted on the website for inviting objections and suggestions and the merger exercise would be taken up soon, he said, adding that the exact number of teachers required as per the Right to Education Act would be less than projected as schools with no enrolment had been closed and the proposal of merging schools with less enrolment of students was in pipeline.

There have been surplus teachers in many schools and even in remote district, like Chamba, 300 teachers were found surplus, which are being posted in other schools.

About 1,200 primary schools are being run by single teacher and 6,741 by two teachers, while 4,941 primary and 859 upper primary schools have less than 20 students.

Further, there are about 66,000 teachers in government schools and teacher-pupil ratio is 1,240 at primary level and 13.24 at secondary level, but the deployment has not been made in a rational manner.