THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a controversial move, the state government has included personal staff members of ministers in the panel from which aided higher secondary school managements will select the government representative to the selection committee that recommends the recruitment of teachers.
According to an order issued by the general education department on July 16, eight personal staff members attached to seven ministers have been included in the panel of 48 members. An earlier order, issued on July 8, had listed only 39 members.
As per Kerala Education Rules (KER), the appointing authority for various posts in aided higher secondary schools is the manager. The selection committee, which recommends appointments to teaching posts, comprises the manager or his/her nominee, the principal of the school, and a government representative chosen by the manager from a panel of officers of the rank of deputy secretary or above.
Though all members in the panel are officers of the rank of deputy secretary or above, the inclusion of ministers’ personal staff has drawn criticism. “Such a move is unprecedented because ministers’ personal staff are political appointees,” said T K A Shafi, general secretary of Kerala School Teachers’ Association (KSTA).
Demanding withdrawal of the order, Shafi alleged, “It is obvious that managers will opt for ministers’ personal staff from the panel, paving the way for favouritism or corruption,”
Government sources, however, maintained that all the personal staff members included in the panel hold ranks equivalent to or above that of deputy secretary and that there has been no violation of the rules.
“Applications for inclusion in the panel were invited in March this year, when the UDF government was not in power. These officials are senior secretariat officers who have only recently been deputed as ministers’ personal staff,” a senior government official said.
Meanwhile, two personal staff members of the general education minister, whose names figure in the panel, said they would recuse themselves if school managers choose them as the government representative on selection committees.