It has been a long wait for Government schools to get watchmen and scavengers. The wait was so long that the appointment of sweepers and watchmen was done after a gap of 25 years on Friday.
Officials in the Department of School Education here have said that the vacancies existed for all these years and the government schools have been managing on temporary basis with local fund arrangement.
But, thanks to the initiative of the State Government, the hygiene and security of schools is set to improve as permanent recruitment was done on regular pay scale. Appointment orders were issued on Friday after online counselling and the selection was made based on employment exchange registration seniority.
“This recruitment of watchmen and scavengers was done more than two decades ago. No fresh appointment of non-teaching staff was undertaken in Government schools ever since it was banned in the 80s. Now, it will be a big relief to our schools,” S.Nagaraja Murugan, Chief Educational Officer, Madurai district, told The Hindu after handing over the appointment orders here.
For Madurai district, 28 watchmen and 59 scavengers have been appointed with State Government’s regular time scale of pay for various Government schools in the district. District-level vacancies were filled after getting data from the district employment offices. The first stage of counselling was done in districts by the District Educational Officers.
Mr. Nagaraja Murugan has said that the appointment of regular/permanent watchmen and scavengers is a dire need since the requirements of schools had increased. “Safety of schools is an urgent need as infrastructural facilities and equipment such as computer laptops and electrical fittings were provided for them. Also, campus cleanliness is of paramount importance from the health point of students and staff,” he added.
Those who were appointed include male and female candidates who registered with district employment office several years ago. For watchman, the monthly salary is ranging around Rs.11,000 while the pay scale of scavenger is around Rs.6,000 per month.
The CEO has said that the remaining vacancies for these posts will be filled up in the next phase after State Government’s green signal.
