‘Why delay hiring primary teachers for BMC schools?’

The delay in issuing appointment letters to 150 probationary assistant teacher candidates for the primary section of BMC schools despite BMC officials claiming that they got the state governmentrsquos approval for the same has irked the Maharashtra Studentsrsquo Union MASUmidday had on August 23 highlighted the plight of 252 candidatesmdash150 for the primary section and 102 for the secondary sectionmdashwho were rejected by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation despite clearing the Maharashtra Teacher Aptitude and Intelligence Test MahaTAIT on the grounds that their primary education was in vernacular language instead of EnglishlsquoSome quit their jobsrsquoSiddharth Ingle founderpresident of MASU who had met Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and senior BMC officials including commissioner I S Chahal last week said ldquoSenior BMC officials told us that they have already got sanction from the state government to hire 150 candidates as probationary assistant teacher in primary schools run by BMC But these 150 candidates are still awaiting their formal appointment lettersrdquoAlso Read 31 years later BMC starts work on missing link between Andheri and GoregaonHe added that had the candidates been hired in 2019 when they were called to Mumbai for document verification they would have completed the mandatory threeyear probation period and would have been eligible for permanent teacher postsldquoMany of these graduate and postgraduate candidates with DEd and BEd degrees are from Amravati Latur Beed Solapur and other rural parts of Maharashtra and were looking forward to working at BMC schools Some of them even quit their jobs when they were called to Mumbai for document verificationrdquoRahul More name changed a 33yearold from Beed is a postgraduate with a DEd degree and has been jobless since 2019 More told midday ldquoI had been working for a private school in Beed after completing my DEd in 2012 I started with a salary of Rs 5000 and was getting Rs 21000 in 2019 when I quit the job after my name was on the list of candidates However BMC rejected me for not having done my primary education from an English medium school Today I have no jobrdquoChandrakant Patil name changed a 37yearold from Amravati said ldquoI was passionate about teaching and decided to be a school teacher But unfortunately things did not materialise and I took up a job as a project coordinator for a private firm In 2019 I was among the candidates who scored well in MahaTAIT and was sure of getting a job in BMC school I was called for document verification in Mumbai in 2019 and since then I am without a jobrdquoWhen asked both More and Patil said they would still take up the job at BMC schools where their salary for the three years of probation would be R6000R8000 ldquoWe are keen to get a government jobrdquo they saidCandidatesIngle added ldquoIt is surprising that of the 252 candidates eligible for teaching jobs in BMCrun schools BMC had information of only 150 candidates for teaching primary sections but did not have any clue about the remaining 102 candidates who were to be hired for the secondary sectionrdquoRefuting BMCrsquos claim that the officials did not have any data on these candidates Ingle said that MASU is in possession of a letter written by former state education commissioner Vishal Solanki dated December 13 2019 addressed to Ashitosh Salil joint commissioner education BMC and another letter dated January 20 2021 addressed to the state additional chief secretary education that refer to filling the vacant posts in BMC schools and mention the eligible 252 candidatesldquoAs directed by a senior BMC official we have sent a letter to Joint Municipal Commissioner Education Ajit Kumbhar raising concerns about the fate of the remaining 102 candidates BMC officials have now assured us to look into the matter and get the state governmentrsquos approvalrdquo Ingle concluded