The School Education Department has decided to temporarily engage 2,449 postgraduate assistants to fill vacancies of teachers for Classes 11 and 12 in government-run schools.
The instructions sent by Directorate of School Education on Tuesday said the decision was made as the process to fill the vacancies through Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) or promotions was likely to take more time.
According to the government order, the teachers will be engaged on a consolidated pay of ₹10,000 per month for five months from August to December 2019.
The temporary recruitment will be made through Parent Teachers Association for schools having vacancies.
Selection of eligible candidates will be done through a committee comprising the Headmaster, the Assistant Headmaster (in charge of Higher Secondary), and the senior-most P.G. Assistant teacher.
Apart from possessing necessary qualifications, the candidates should ideally be from the same locality or from nearby areas.
The order said the teachers will be recruited for 11 important subjects, including Tamil, English, Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. Of the 2,449 vacancies, the maximum is in Vellore (198), followed by Villupuram (186), and Tiruvannamalai (169).
Stop-gap arrangements
Reacting to the decision, K.P.O. Suresh, president, Tamil Nadu Postgraduate Teachers’ Association, said it was yet another instance of the department resorting to stop-gap arrangements at the eleventh hour.
“It has been almost three months since classes commenced. The order says that the teachers will be engaged for five months from August. But August is already over,” he said.
He blamed the government for not taking measures to annually fill the vacancies through TRB. “It is not difficult to calculate the vacancies in advance every year and take steps to fill them. The department is jeopardising the education of government school students with these temporary arrangements,” he alleged.
