AP mulls extending teachers' services

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh government has proposed to extend the service of government teachers and lecturers, who are due to retire this year, till the end of the academic year 2016-17.
The state government has already increased the retirement age of over 4 lakh teachers in the state from 58 to 60 years. The latest proposal to extend the service till the end of the academic year comes in the wake of acute shortage of teachers in all government schools and colleges.Besides 4 lakh teachers in government institutions, about 56,000 teachers are in aided schools. Junior and degree colleges are also faced with severe shortage of teaching staff. There are several schools in the state that have only one teacher.
The state education department informed the government that about 50,000 teachers and lecturers will retire in the middle of the academic year. As the recruitment process takes more than six months, it proposed to extend the service of these teachers till March 2017.
“We have asked district education officers to list out the teachers, whose retirement is due this year. As the process of recruitment has not yet started, we are planning to give extension to these teachers. But the proposal needs the nod of the state cabinet,“ said a senior official.It was proposed to limit the relief for the academic year 2016-17.
HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao is examining the issue. He has sought legal opinion on providing one time relief to the teachers, who will retire during the course of the academic year. Srinivasa Rao has asked the government examinations wing, Sarva Siksha Abhyan, and the director of school education to submit details of retiring staff to the finance department.
“We have spent Rs 3,000 crore to build infrastructure in schools as part of the programme to transform AP into a knowledge hub. Shortage of teaching staff is a major issue. We have proposing several alternatives to deal with it. The state cabinet will take a decision,“ he told TOI.