Hills’ teachers demand regularisation of jobs

Hills’ teachers demand regularisation of jobs

28 February 2012

SILIGURI, 28 FEB: Teachers recruited on an ad hoc basis to work at state-aided schools in the Hills are demanding regular posts.
The School Service Commission (Hills) has been defunct since 2000, shut down to stop recruitment of teachers in the Hills from outside the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) area. During Mr Subas Ghising's tenure, the DGHC recruited teachers on ad hoc basis. Since the end of Mr Ghising’s administration, though, no teacher has been recruited even on an ad hoc basis. At a time when the DGHC is in no position to recruit fresh teachers to fill in vacant posts, the ad hoc teachers associated with several schools in the Hills have been demanding that their service be regularised.
Regularisation of ad hoc teachers is being delayed because of a technical problem, sources say, and without the regularisation of hundreds of ad hoc teachers, no fresh recruitment would be possible through the SSC (Hills) for the state-aided secondary and higher schools in the Hills.
Anyway, according to a senior administrative official associated with the DGHC, though, “It is very difficult to start the process for recruiting teachers through the SSC without execution of the proposed Gorkhaland Territorial Administration." Under the tripartite GTA accord, the new council would be able to form college and school service commissions for the recruitment of teachers for educational institutions.
DGHC administrator, Mr Anil Verma said that, despite the halt in the recruitment of new teachers, there have been no reports of adverse impacts on teacher-student ratios in the Hills. "We have to look into problem of several ad hoc teachers who are demanding regularisation of their school service," Mr Verma said. "The implementation of the GTA is a must to resolve the present crisis." sns