New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has asked the ministry of education (MoE) to fill all vacant teaching positions in government schools for timely implementation of the new National Education Policy (NEP).
As per MoE data, about 10 lakh teaching positions in government schools across elementary, primary, secondary and higher secondary levels in the country were lying vacant till 31 December, 2022. Of the 62,71,380 positions sanctioned at the state level, 9,86,565 — or 15.7 per cent — are vacant.
Made public Tuesday, the parliamentary panel report recommended that these positions be filled in a “time-bound manner”.
The Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, headed by BJP MP Vijay Thakur, filed its report after examining the demands for grants by the Department of School Education and Literacy for the 2023-24 fiscal.
As per the data presented to the panel 7,47,565 posts at elementary level, 1,46,334 at secondary level and 92,666 at higher secondary level are vacant.
The statement by the panel read, “The committee, therefore, recommends that the department should encourage the state governments to expedite the recruitment process to fill up the vacancies of teaching staff in a time-bound manner to achieve 30:1 pupil-teacher ratio as envisaged under New Education Policy, 2020.”
The panel also flagged the lack of transparency in the process of recruitment of teachers.
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Transparent recruitment process
Pointing out that the recruitment process lacks transparency and is “cumbersome”, the panel in its report noted, “the committee recommends that an autonomous teacher recruitment board should be formed at the state level as recommended by some education committees.”
The panel also acknowledged the department’s progress with reference to the student enrollment numbers post pandemic, asking it to ensure better utilisation of funds under the National-Means-cum-Merit scholarship scheme for students from economically weaker sections.
On the central government’s PM Schools for Rising India (SHRI) scheme introduced last year, the panel said the department should “vigorously” take up the issue with the eight states which have still not signed up — Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
Under the scheme, 14,500 schools are to be upgraded at a cost of Rs 27,360 crore (including central government’s share of Rs 18,128 crore) over a period of five years.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
Source: The Print
