The teachers said the government has not met its promises; promotions have been pending for a long period.
Teachers admit that quality education is not provided in schools. (Creative Commons)
The Telangana government has approved the recruitment of teachers to fill 5,089 posts under various categories.
In an order issued on Friday, 25 August, the government said the Department of School Education could set the recruitment process in motion with the approval of the competent authority.
The Departmental Selection Committee shall take the necessary steps for direct recruitment to the vacant posts permitted to be filled up in this order, by obtaining the requisite details, such as local cadre-wise vacancy position, roster points, qualifications, etc., from the secretary concerned and the director of school education, the order said.
As many as 1,739 posts of school assistants, 2,575 secondary grade teachers, 611 language pandits, and 164 posts of physical education teachers are vacant.
The teaching community is not impressed by the move to recruit teachers.
Chava Ravi, general secretary of the Telangana State United Teachers Federation (TSUTF), said the education department should implement its decisions instead of issuing government orders.
To drive in his point, he said court cases regarding promotion are remaining inconclusive with neither the government nor the department directing the officials to complete the process.
Ravi said the government approved the recruitment of 5,089 teachers even as nearly 9,000 others have been awaiting promotions. Their promotions were put on hold due to the ongoing court cases.
The government had informed the Assembly of 13,000 vacancies, he said, adding that the figure excluded those posts that have to be filled by promoting the existing teachers. He claimed that the 25,065 government schools in the state together are now short of 22,000 teachers.
Ravi said there are not enough teachers despite the teacher-to-pupil ratio having been put at 1:30. In primary schools, one of two teachers has been teaching all subjects.
Several teachers felt the move to fill vacancies would affect their long-pending promotions. Of the 22,000 vacancies, 70 percent have to be filled by promoting existing teachers. Filling the remaining 30 percent of vacancies amounted to injustice, they said. Some teachers have been awaiting promotions for the past 20 years, they claimed.
“My last promotion was in 2001. Many head masters have been waiting for a longer period. Quality education is not provided in government schools as teachers are dispirited, Ravinder, headmaster of a government school in Ranga Reddy district, said.
Lavanya, a government school teacher, said the vacancies should be filled without delay and before the Assembly elections
“The teaching community has lost respect and trust in the government as it has not been implementing the announcements made. The order issued during Sankranthi in January on transfers and promotions has not been implemented,” she said.
The government launched English medium for classes I to VIII in 2022-23 to attract students and to address the drop in admissions. The teachers were trained at the Azim Premji University.
However, since most teachers have a Telugu medium background, they are finding it difficult to teach in English,
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