NEW DELHI: The Directorate of Education (DoE) has stopped hirings for government-aided schools in Delhi for the past one month in an attempt to revamp the recruitment process.
“Hirings of teaching and non-teaching staff is frozen to find a solution to various loopholes in the process. The approval of the education minister for a re-look into the selection process is awaited,” confirmed YVVJ Rajashekher, Special Director (Aided –schools), who prepared the note. As per the recommendation, school selection committee can have the final say in recruitments but the process — right from advertisement stage to application screening — will be cleared by the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board.
Since the government pays 95 per cent of the entire staff, the selection committee — which will compromise of members of the education department and management committee — will be the authority for staff selection. The move has generated mixed reactions.
While many hailed it, principals and members on the management committees view it as an encroachment on their rights to have the final say in staff selection. “This is a welcome step to check big scams that goes on in aided schools. Education of children is not the management committees’ concern, for lakhs are paid to the panel members for a single post,” said education activist Ashok Agarwal.
However, RC Jain, president of Public School Management Committee Association, sees an attempt to bulldoze the rights of schools. “The state is trying to pressure school management committees to give in. Who is the government accusing of corruption? The management committee consists of 21 people, of which 15 are government representatives. So, why this change,” wondered Jain.
Sheer numbers make task onerous
Delhi has 1,030 government-run schools, 215 government-aided schools and 1,352 private schools. Given a large number of aided schools as well as teaching vacancies there, staff selection becomes a major task for both the Board and schools to contend with