Reduction in rehabilitation package for teachers

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Government has decided to tone down the rehabilitation package for teachers rendered jobless following the fall in the number of students to appease managements of aided schools. The final draft package should have been announced on Monday at the state-level inauguration of the Teachers’ Day in Malappuram. However, this was deferred following opposition from the aided school managements. The present plan is to hold another round of discussions with aided school managers before taking a final decision on the changes to be made in the package. The cabinet sub-committee headed by Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb and comprising of ministers P J Joseph, Thiruvananchoor Radhakrishnan, T M Jacob,K Babu and K P Mohanan is likely to meet here on Tuesday for finalising the new package. Meanwhile,  the coordination committee of various teachers organisations supporting the Left parties met in Malappuram on Monday and decided to oppose any change in the package aimed at appeasing the managements.Pro-CPM KSTA general secretary M Shajahan told ‘Express’ that the package was already loaded with provisions that are in the interests of the managements. For example, aided schools can make appointments to the new vacancies arising once the teacher - student ratio of 1:30 from classes I to V and 1:35 from classes VI to X are introduced.  They only have to appoint a single person from the teachers’ bank to get sanction for these appointments. This means that they can make 5,000 to 7,000 appointments following the introduction of the teacher-student ratio, he said.On the other hand, government schools would have to make appointments on temporary basis from the list in the teachers’ bank. New vacancies in government schools will be notified only after the staff fixation to be held in 2013-14. The tendency of making appointments to prospective vacancies in aided schools had to be stopped, he said. He said that the demand of the teachers is that protected teachers  and teachers rendered jobless from aided schools have to be rehabilitated in such schools. Only teachers from government schools in these categories have to be rehabilitated in government schools, he said. Protected teachers are teachers who have been appointed prior to 1997 and who have protection to their jobs even if there is a fall in the number of students. However, Kerala Private School (Aided) Managers Association general secretary R M Parameswaran told ‘Express’ that the managements could not approve of the package as it aimed at curbing their powers to make appointments in schools under them. ‘’We cannot accept the provision that schools have to get the prior sanction before making appointments,’’he said. He said that the claim that there were over 10,000 teachers in the teachers’ bank was false. The actual number of  teachers in the list was very much less. The high number of teachers in the teachers’ bank was arrived at by including those appointed by the managements pending sanction from the government. The actual number of protected teachers in the state came around only 340, he said.