THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Call it backdoor appointments of a different kind. Allegedly due to pressure from influential Left-affiliated school teachers’ associations, the LDF government has amended an earlier decision of recruiting through the state Public Service Commission (PSC) 25% of the Higher Secondary School Teacher (HSST) Junior posts from among eligible school teachers, lab assistants and ministerial staff.
Instead, the recruitment would now be carried out by the Directorate of General Education based on seniority alone, throwing qualification of the candidates and transparency of the process to the winds. This has also paved the way for teachers close to the ruling dispensation getting the chance of entering the Higher Secondary sector without going through a fair recruitment process by the state PSC.
It was in 2015 that the then UDF government decided to entrust with the state PSC the appointments to the 25% HSST Junior posts that are to be filled through the ‘by-transfer’ process. Accordingly, the posts were decided to be filled by the PSC from among teachers from High School, UP School or LP School sections and also from ministerial staff and lab assistants.
However, on January 30 this year, the government came out with a strange order allowing the Director of General Education to fill the by-transfer vacancies of HSST Junior posts, sidelining the PSC. This was pointed out as a gross violation of the norm that posts once reported to the PSC cannot be tampered with by the government without cancelling it by following the due process.
Based on the government order, the Higher Secondary Directorate recently came out with a notification inviting applications for these by-transfer posts pertaining to the period from January 1, 2016, to December 28, 2020. The by-transfer posts during this four-year period would add up to around 550 and the LDF Government would have a free hand in deciding the appointments from among school teachers and ministerial staff.
“Academic urgency is cited as the reason for this strange arrangement. However, it is clear that the qualified candidates in the by-transfer category will be sidelined and political affiliation would be the yardstick. This would only lead to deterioration of the standards of the Higher Secondary sector,” said Anil M George, general secretary, Higher Secondary School Teachers’ Association.
Meanwhile, the controversial by-transfer recruitment process has been legally challenged by a section of aggrieved teachers. The Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) which looked into the complaints has ordered that such appointments would be subject to its final verdict on the bunch of petit ions filed by teachers. However, with the assembly election fast approaching, the government is learnt to have hastened the appointment process.
courting controversy
In 2015, the then UDF government decided to entrust with the state PSC the appointments to the 25% HSST Junior posts
However, on January 30 this year, the government came out with a strange order allowing the Director of General Education to fill the by-transfer vacancies of HSST Junior posts