CHENNAI: Over 11 years since the last recruitment for the post was done in 2014, Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Thursday handed over appointment orders to 2,457 secondary grade teachers selected through the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB). He also launched books developed under two key initiatives of the school education department — Thiran and TN Spark.
The appointments were based on a TRB examination conducted in 2024, followed by certificate verification and counselling completed earlier this month. According to sources, the last recruitment of secondary grade teachers, who are posted in primary and middle schools, took place in 2014, when over 1,500 candidates were appointed.
Addressing the teachers, Udhayanidhi recalled welfare measures implemented by previous DMK governments for school teachers and stressed on the long-standing association between the Dravidian movement and teachers. Udhayanidhi said that for the first time in the history of the school education department, there are no vacancies of secondary grade teacher posts in hilly regions, and described the tenure of Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi as the golden age of the department.
Udhayanidhi also released books developed under the Thiran (Targeted Help for Improving Remediation & Academic Nurturing) scheme, aimed at enhancing language and mathematical skills of students in classes 6 to 9.
The initiative is designed to bridge learning gaps among students, with an endline assessment scheduled for February 2026. In addition, he also launched textbooks under the TN Spark (Tamil Nadu School Programme for Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Knowledge of Online Tools) initiative, which introduces students in classes 6 to 9 to the fundamentals of computer science, online tools, AI and coding.
According to representatives from government teachers’ associations, there are still over 4,000 vacancies for secondary grade teacher posts in government elementary schools across TN. While the recent appointments are welcome, they pointed out that the newly-appointed teachers receive a salary of around Rs 32,000. When teachers are posted outside their home districts, this amount is often insufficient to meet basic living expenses, they said. The state should consider increasing the salary, they added.
During the event, Minister Poyyamozhi read a greetings message from Chief Minister M K Stalin — who is currently hospitalised — to the newly-appointed teachers, stating that the Dravidian Model government is focused on both the welfare of students and teachers.