Council allows appointment of 450+ temporary teachers in Chennai Corporation schools

CHENNAI: At the monthly meeting held on Saturday, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) approved the appointment of over 450 temporary teachers through school management committees (SMCs) to Corporation schools, with a salary range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 13,000. However, the decision was opposed by both the communist parties (CPI and CPM)—alliance partners of the DMK. They said such temporary appointments with paltry salaries for teachers will affect the quality of education and also lead to corruption.

As per the resolution passed, temporary secondary grade teachers should have passed a diploma in teacher education, while BT assistants should have a bachelor’s degree and completed B.Ed. PG teachers should have postgraduation with B.Ed. Their salaries will be Rs 10,000, Rs 11,000 and Rs 13,000 respectively. Corporation schools have vacancies for more than 900 teachers and 50% of them will be filled by temporary teachers for a period of 10 months from June to March. Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi said the civic body has informed the Teachers’ Recruitment Board (TRB) about the vacancies.

Speaking about the resolution, Ward 4 councillor R Jayaraman (CPM), during the zero hour, said the workers under the National Urban Livelihood Mission earned more than the teachers and such appointments will adversely impact kids’ education as Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) has not been listed as a condition. He added that these appointments will also lead to corruption, to which the DMK objected and asked the mayor to expunge the word from the council’s records. For this, the mayor said that the word will be removed. Subsequently, when the resolution was passed, two CPM members registered their opposition and walked out.

Speaking about the incident, Ward 41 councillor B Vimala said they were being denied opportunities to speak during the question hour. While the school education department also allowed the appointment of temporary teachers through SMCs, it had made TET one of the qualifications. The Corporation also passed a resolution to temporarily appoint teachers and nannies at LKG and UKG sections, watchmen, junior assistants and computer assistants in schools through the headmasters of the respective schools.