look news india
Guwahati : Around 4,500 contractual teachers working in various high schools in Assam have been given the same pay scale as regular employees, and are also entitled to serve till the age of 60 years. Therefore, the education department has no immediate plans to convert them into permanent appointments, a senior government official said.
Mamta Hojai, director of secondary education in Assam, told IANS, “The contractual teachers working in schools were given the benefits of permanent teachers. They can continue their job till the age of 60 with other benefits like a regular high school teacher. The state government had provided these facilities about three and a half years ago.
Hojai asked: “After all these benefits have already been provided to those teachers, why should the government take additional steps to give them regular appointment?” He also said that the education department has no such plan.
Earlier, Assam Education Minister Ranoj Pegu had said: “There are more than 25,000 TET-qualified teachers who are working on contract basis in primary schools across the state. Apart from this, 9,500 contract teachers were also employed in primary schools. Besides this, there are 4,500 teachers who give classes to class 9 and 10 students. We have decided to give regular appointments to all of them.
Education Secretary Narayan Konwar told IANS, “A section of teachers went to the High Court condemning the state government's decision. Therefore, the entire process was stopped and the matter is under the supervision of the court. We can issue any statement only when the High Court comes out with its comments on this issue.”
The Assam government initially appointed about 8,000 teachers on contract basis in 2010 to teach subjects like science, mathematics and English at the high school level. Over time, approximately 3,500 teachers from this group moved on to other employment opportunities.