8,000 teachers to be appointed

The new appointees, who will be science and English teachers, will replace an equal number of teachers retiring by March 2011. The move is designed to boost teaching quality at the primary level. The recruitment will be made in a phased manner after the Finance Department grants permission, he added.

Those who have completed DEd with PUC Science background will be appointed as Science teachers, while those with DEd and whose medium of instruction till PUC is English will be recruited as English teachers. Moreover, English and Science teachers will be appointed in every school in a phased manner. But, the government will not create new English and Science teachers’ posts for this, he clarified.

Kageri said the government had urged the Centre to cover 500 schools under the Rashtriya Madhyamika Shikshan Abhiyan, but only 80 schools had been covered.

The Central government sanctioned only Rs 400 crore whereas the State government had demanded for Rs 1000 crore for the scheme, he added.

Meeting the members of the State Mid-Day Meal Scheme Employees’ Organisation workers who staged a protest rally at Freedom Fighters’ Park alleging that officers of the Department of Education had sacked them without valid reasons, Kageri promised them to solve their problems at the earliest, by having a meeting with them in the presence of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.

As many as 20,000 workers lost their jobs after the government handed over serving of mid-day meals to ISKCON. They urged the government not to hand over responsibility of mid-day meal to any non-government organisation.