Selected, but yet to get appointment letters

Of the 1,000 candidates selected for teaching posts in model schools, only a few got orders

Model school dreams have turned sour for hundreds of aspirants waiting for the appointment letters for the last one year despite being in the selected merit list.

More than 1,000 selected candidates are waiting for their appointment letters, but their hopes seem to be diminishing now. “Without a job for the last one year we are financially and physically drained out,” says Firdous, one of the selected candidates.

Many candidates such as Firdous, have let their jobs to attend the interviews as they had to submit original certificates and without the certificates no private school or college is willing to accommodate them now.

Officials, the candidates allege, have not responded to their appeals. “We don’t even know whether the government is willing to take us. The fear is more after bifurcation,” a candidate said.

These candidates were selected for teaching positions in the 355 Model schools that the government started to impart English medium education in backward mandals targeting the rural students.

The recruitment notification as issued in February 2012 for 7,100 posts with English-medium made mandatory for teachers too. Some students, who challenged the “English-medium must” norm were allowed to write the entrance for PGT posts and principal posts. However, the High Court later said the government had every right to fix the eligibility criteria.

Selected candidates say results were declared in October 2012 and certificate verification was done in May 2013. Only a few candidates were given appointments with the promise that the remaining would be given appointment letters in Phase-II, candidates claim, adding that officials cited the court directions on the medium issue for the delay. Moreover, only 326 schools were started, out of the 355 due to logistical issues.

Among the affected are both Post Graduate Teachers (PGTs) and Trained Graduate Teachers (TGTs). Out of the 4,615 PGT posts; 2,182 still remain vacant while only 780 TGTs have been recruited out of the 2,130 sanctioned posts.

TGTs wonder why their appointments should be held up when there are no legal issues with their recruitment unlike the PGT posts. None of the candidates from Telugu medium appeared for the TGT exam, candidates claim.