Short of teachers? Hire retired ones
WITH ONLY 4 MONTHS LEFT FOR FINAL EXAMS, MANY IN THE SYSTEM FEEL THAT HIRING RETIRED TEACHERS WILL NOT BE OF MUCH HELP TO THE STUDENTS
NEW DELHI: To deal with the shortage of teachers in government schools, the department of education (DOE) has asked the schools to hire retired teachers.
However, with only four months left for the current academic session to be over, many in the system feel that the move will not be of much help to the students.
“We will hire retired teachers on an hourly basis in our schools for academic activities. Teachers who have retired from our schools, aided schools, central government and local bodies’ schools are eligible to apply,” a DOE official said.
The teachers will be engaged with schools on short-term basis till March 31, 2018. The government is currently facing a shortfall of around 27,000 regular teachers, including for direct hiring and promotional post. While the government says that the step is being taken to ensure that there are enough teachers for the students, some school principals and teachers feel that the move offers too little and too late.
“The problem of lack of teachers has been there since start of the academic year. It is not going to serve any purpose when we are at the last leg of the academic cycle as for Class 10 and 12 the syllabus will be over in December. The students have already spent the year without teachers,” said a principal of a government school on condition of anonymity.
“Right now we are in thick soup. How will these teachers compensate for the time that has been lost,” said an English teacher of the same school, who did not wish to be named.
However, the government said it was the last measure they could have taken as the hiring for guest teachers was stayed by the high court in May. “We were ready and teachers would have been in school by June but the process was stayed by HC in May. We hoped it would be lifted but in the present circumstances we have no option but to take this measure,” said Atishi Marlena, advisor to the education minister.