Govt school heads told to fill teacher vacancies with temporary staff with barely a week left for reopening

Chennai: Schools reopen on June 4 after the summer vacation, and a section of govt school heads have been given a four-day deadline to fill all vacant teacher posts in their institutions by hiring temporary staff through school management committees (SMC). Over the past two days, chief and district education officers have instructed several school heads to ensure their schools are at full teacher strength on the day of reopening.

This practice to fill staff vacancies in govt schools, in posts where teachers were transferred or retired, or the student strength increased, has been in place for the past several years. School heads, however, said it should have been conveyed sooner as the reopening was less than a week away.

“An order or instruction, at least verbally, is necessary to start the process. Earlier, we have started the process without instructions and a teacher transferred by the govt will be posted here later. Finding teachers through SMCs is an arduous task. If we find one, fixing their joining date and assuring them of payment can be made only after the govt assures us that the budget allocation has been done. So, this begins a month before reopening. This time, it is too late,” said a school head, who had to fill three vacancies in four days.

Generally, the temporary postings are given to teachers qualified in secondary grade (for elementary school), bachelors in teaching (for high school). While post graduates hired through such means are paid about ₹18,000 a month, BTs and secondary grade teachers get about ₹15,000 and ₹12,000 respectively.

Officials from the school education department said this is a periodic process. “It happens year on year. The school heads know it well without needing assurance. Also, a teacher hired through the SMC last year can continue teaching this year as well. Rarely do the number of vacancies go up,” said Chennai chief education officer M Kabir.

Another school head, however, said that assurances need to be conveyed through govt letterheads hereon. “Some years ago, our chief had informed us through WhatsApp to start hiring teachers. The appointments were made. Teachers started working from June 1. But later, we were told that the budget allocation for their salaries has been made only from June 10. Teachers lost pay for nine days,” he said.

A section of teachers said these problems can be avoided if the govt makes the appointments. “There are several TET-cleared teachers, who are awaiting employment. They can be made BTs. That way, quality of education is also assured,” said M Rajalakshmi, a retired