Hiring of govt school teachers put on hold

Move instils hope among guest staff; officials seeking opinion on weightage policy

On the boil: Water cannons were used to disperse guest teachers seeking regularisation in December last year.

In last-minute relief to about 17,000 guest teachers working in Delhi government schools, the recruitment process for permanent teaching jobs that was supposed to start on Friday was put on hold by the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) on Thursday.

This comes after the Aam Aadmi Party government objected to the DSSSB advertising about 9,000 jobs on August 7 as the policy for giving preference or credit to guest teachers in the recruitment of permanent teachers is yet to be decided.

On August 9, Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia asked Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal to put a hold on the recruitment, which had invited applications from August 25.

‘Not in the loop’

Mr. Sisodia had said that the Directorate of Education had not kept him in the loop and that the advertisement was floated without his knowledge.

While the Lieutenant-Governor has jurisdiction over services, Mr. Sisodia pointed out that education was a department under the elected government.

On Thursday, Mr. Sisodia said that the Lieutenant-Governor had put a hold on the recruitment process and that he was sure that guest teachers would get “justice” now. According to a notice issued by the DSSSB, the recruitment would remain on hold till further instructions from the government.

Sources in the Delhi government said that Mr. Baijal had asked the Law Department for its opinion on whether weightage could be given to the guest teachers who have been working in government schools for years without permanent employment.

Age limit

On October 6, 2015, the Cabinet had decided to grant guest teachers a relaxation in the age limit and credit for their experience when recruiting for permanent jobs.

While the age relaxation had been accepted by the then Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung on May 30, 2016, the decision to give preference to the guest teachers was approved citing certain court orders.

SC order

However, Mr. Sisodia said a subsequent Supreme Court order has paved the way for giving certain weightage to guest teachers.

Till the policy of how much credit, some sources say it could be 30 marks, to give guest teachers is decided, the recruitment process would remain on hold, as per government sources.

Regularisation has been a long-pending demand of the guest teachers and something which political parties have supported during election campaigns.

Both the AAP and the BJP have agreed to the need to give the guest teachers permanent jobs, but have accused each other of not being serious about it.