Amid protests by Congress over outsourcing to fill the vacant posts of school teachers in the state, Chhattisgarh government on Sunday clarified that the initiative was taken up for the welfare of the students in remote areas where there is shortage of teachers due to a number of factors.
“Lack of teachers has greatly affected the education in remote areas of tribal-dominated Surguja and Bastar regions.
Therefore for the welfare of the students, outsourcing was introduced,” School Education Minister Kedar Kashyap and Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Ajay Chandrakar told in a joint press conference.
Owing to non-availability of aspirants for posts of expert teachers for subjects like English, Maths, Physics and others despite rolling out vacancies at least 13 times, the state government decided to go with the idea of outsourcing which is a temporary arrangement, Mr. Chandrakar said.
“It is the responsibility of the government to impart quality education to students across the state. Around 12 districts of Surguja and Bastar division will be covered under it where around 2,300 expert teachers will be temporarily recruited from all over the country through placement agencies,” the ministers said.
Ruling out that the decision would snatch opportunity of employment from local youths, Mr. Chandrakar said, simultaneously the Chhattisgarh government will make efforts to recruit permanent teachers from among local aspirants for the vacant posts.
After filling all the vacant posts permanently, the system of outsourcing will be closed, he added.
Over a query on reasons behind lack of teachers in remote areas, Mr. Chandrakar said, several factors, including menace of Left Wing Extremism and the area being remote, influence people from joining there (as teachers).
Taking a dig at Congress, Mr. Kashyap said, “some people with political motives are trying to spread confusion among citizen that the move will be a disadvantage for local youths to fulfill their political motives.
“It is purely done to provide quality education and other related facilities to students from remote areas.”
Earlier Congress leaders, including the party chief Bhupesh Baghel and the leader of opposition in the assembly T S Singhdeo had opposed the idea of outsourcing saying that local youths can be given opportunity in these jobs instead of inviting aspirants from other states.
National Student Union India (NSUI) activists had yesterday staged a protest against the decision in the state capital.—PTIssss
‘It is purely done to provide quality education and other related facilities to students from remote areas.’
