All guest teachers and teachers hired for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan who have been engaged for at least 120 days after April 1, 2016 and fulfil the required educational qualifications would be eligible for permanent jobs, as per a draft Bill of the Delhi government.
Likely to be tabled in the Delhi Assembly on October 4, as announced by Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia on September 27, the draft legislation is titled ‘Regularisation of Services of Guest Teachers and Teachers’ engaged under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, 2017.
While announcing the Aam Aadmi Party government’s decision to table the Bill, Mr. Sisodia had said about 15,000 out of the around 17,000 guest teachers employed by government schools would benefit from regularisation.
The remaining 2,000 teachers had not cleared the Central Teacher Eligibility Test, which is a requisite for recruitment.
From 2001 onwards
As per the draft Bill, teachers for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which is the Centre’s programme for universal elementary education, have been hired from 2001 onwards and guest teachers from 2009-2010 onwards.
Those who have the required qualifications would be up for regularisation.
Qualifications
Guest teachers and teachers hired for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan who do not have the qualifications would not be denied regularisation till they are given a chance to obtain it as per the Right to Education Act.
Since 2014, the Directorate of Education has been following a transparent process for hiring guest teachers for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, removing the possibility of “backdoor” recruitment, as per the draft.
Though the salaries of the guest teachers stand to increase if they are given permanent positions, the draft says there will be no additional financial expenditure to the government.
Sanctioned posts
This, according to government sources, is because the sanctioned posts, along with salaries, already exist.
Since no new posts would be created as a result of the legislation, there will be no new expenditure, said an official.
While the government is set to table the Bill, the Delhi High Court has put a stay on appointment and promotions of guest teachers till October 11. However, regularisation of guest teachers already engaged by the government would not be affected, according to officials.
