Govt yet to fill 22K teachers’ posts

A month after the commencement of classes for the academic year 2019-20, several government schools in the state are struggling to function due to delay in filling up the vacancies of 22,000 teachers.

Considering the shortage of teachers, the Department of Public Instruction has permitted to recruit guest teachers at the taluk level.

According to the data available from the department, it has given permission to fill a total of 22,150 vacancies by hiring guest teachers.

Out of the total vacancies, 11,585 posts are to be filled by guest teachers on full-term basis and appointments will be made to rest of the posts only till the completion of the recruitment process.

In an official circular, the department has mentioned that 10,565 posts are notified for recruitment and for these posts, the recruitment of the guest teachers will only be till the recruitment of permanent teachers.

When one looks at the number of vacancies, Yadgir district needs more teachers - to be specific 1,835 teachers while Belagavi
and Chikkodi educational districts need 1,796 and 1,793 teachers respectively. Chikkamagaluru district has 95 and Uttara Kannada districts 134 vacancies.

The guest teachers will be paid Rs 7,500 per month for a period of 10 months from June to March.

While approving the proposal to recruit the guest teachers, the state government has directed the department to ensure a proper student-teacher ratio.

“When we look at the student-teacher ratio, there are excess teachers at some of the districts and the department should take measures
to deploy excess teachers to the schools where there is a need, instead of hiring guest teachers,” reads the instructions given in the circular.

The government has also suggested shifting the excess teachers working at aided schools to the government schools where there is a shortage and consider it as on official duty (OOD).