The Education department’s plans to declare 2,500 lecturer Teachers (lT) employed in the government schools of the state as surplus is meeting a stiff resistance from the teachers’ organisation, the Rajkeeya Shikshak Sangh (RSS).
The department was planning to send these ‘surplus teachers’ in the schools which are facing the staff crunch. The matter was discussed in a recent meeting of the RSS, Garhwal division in which the members expressed their strong opposition on the issue. A delegation of the RSS also met the Education Director Secondary, CS Gwal and raised their concern on the issue of surplus teachers.
The delegation warned that any effort to transfer teachers in name of surplus would be opposed and demanded that department should first evolve a proper guideline on Surplus teachers before transferring them.
The Vice President Garhwal Division of the RSS, Mukesh Bahuguna told The Pioneer that the entire process of declaring surplus adopted by the education department is faulty. He said that the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) has laid down a criterion of one teacher on every 30 students which the education department is not following.
“There are many teachers who after serving for 15-20 years in remote and inaccessible areas are now posted in accessible schools and there is a very strong probability that these teachers may be shunted out again in the inaccessible areas by declaring them surplus” Bahuguna cautioned.
The President of RSS Chamoli district, KK Dimri said when the process of transfers and promotions of teachers are in progress the issue of surplus was raised mischievously by some department officials.
He claimed that matter is being raised to divert attention from the teachers demand to implement an Assured Career Promotion (ACP) scheme according to which the teachers get the benefit of assured promotions after completing 10-16 and 24 years of service.