The appointment of a Kannada-illiterate teacher at a Kannada medium school in Kerala’s Kasargod district, which shares a border with Karnataka, has led to public ire.
Mohammed Shijeer, who was posted to Angadimogar Government Higher Secondary School in Puthige panchayat, reportedly did not know Kannada, even though the school has a Kannada medium of teaching.
Hence, the school parents' teachers association and local panchayat authorities were strongly against Shijeer taking charge of the school.
District education officials told DH that even though Shijeer was uneducated in Kannada, the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) had ruled in his favour. Hence, he was posted to the school.
Officials at the Public Service Commission said that the teacher’s selection occurred a few years ago and that some of the language skill guidelines might have been mitigated to fill certain posts reserved for some communities. The officials also said that Shijeer approached the KAT later, and got an order in his favour.
Puthige grama panchayat president Subanna Alva said that the Kannada language test was mandatory for the selection of teachers for Kannada medium schools. He charged that it was "quite mysterious" as to how a person who was totally Kannada illiterate was recruited. Alva also said that they had taken up the matter with the government.
According to officials, the tribunal, in its order, stated that Shijeer should be allowed to undergo a 10-month course in Kannada after joining the school.
However, agitators supposedly did not allow him to join, thus creating a dilemma for the authorities.
(Published 29 August 2022, 15:33 IST)
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