In some edifying news, middle-school children in government and aided institutes in the state may expect teachers with expertise in the subjects they teach.

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As per the Right To Education (RTE) Act, the state education department is keen to ensure that only teachers who are graduates in mathematics, science or social sciences instruct Stds VI to VIII. After a review, the state found that there are currently as many as 39,301 vacancies for graduate teachers in Maharashtra.

The requirement has surfaced since 17,700 teachers and 8,546 headmasters in the schools do not possess necessary qualifications, and have thus become surplus. The state hopes to reassign them by altering the responsibilities given to them.
“To ensure that 39,301 graduate teachers are appointed in middle schools, our first preference is teachers already in service. And teachers and headmasters who seem surplus at the moment can be accommodated in high schools, and that too, with a promotion if they are graduates,” S Choklingam, state education commissioner said.

However, even if one assumes that all 26,246 surplus staff can be converted into graduate teachers, there are still 13,011 vacancies.

“A lot of internal shuffling in schools would take place due to this new change. We may have thought about recruitments to 13,000 teaching posts, which will lie vacant even after accommodating the current teachers and headmasters,” he said.