BHUBANESWAR: Close to 75 per cent of teaching posts in non-government fully-aided high schools in the State are vacant. There are 678 such schools in the state that were set up prior to 1982-83. Such is the teacher crisis in the schools that teachers are being brought in from government schools on deputation for teaching students.
Raising concern over the situation, members of the non-government fully-aided high schools teachers association in a press conference on the day said the 75 per cent teacher vacancies in the schools were created owing to teacher retirements over the years. However, no steps are being taken to fill up these posts.
Two years back, the state government had announced recruitment of 2,064 teachers for these schools but the move has been delayed, hampering education of students. Welcoming the government’s move of renovating these schools under its school transformation programme, they said its focus should be on meeting the human resources demand of the schools.
On the other hand, sources in the State Selection Board said the process was started on Monday to invite applications for the 2,064 posts. Candidates can apply for the vacant teaching posts in non-government fully aided high schools of Odisha from January 8. And the registration window of the recruitment process will close on February 2.
Meanwhile, members of the association have threatened to hit the streets and stage a hunger strike in front of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s residence if the vacant teacher positions in the schools are not met by the government at the earliest. Besides filling up the vacancies, the association is demanding taking over the 678 schools by the government for better management.