File affidavits on steps taken for appointing school teachers: HC to Himachal govt

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Monday directed the state government to file an affidavit on the steps taken for appointment of teachers and restructuring government schools with basic infrastructure.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice L Narayana Swamy and Judge Jyotsna Rewal Dua, passed the orders on a petition filed by students of Government Senior Secondary School, Doghari, in Mandi district.

The students have alleged that most of the posts of teachers were lying vacant in their school, due to which they were deprived of the right to education.

The bench also asked the government to inform it within eight weeks about the steps taken for rationalisation of schools on account of thin attendance and the number of vacant posts of physical education teachers.

The court had earlier directed the state to complete the process of amending the rules and to reply as to what steps had been taken for filling up the anticipated vacancies as on January 1, 2020.

During hearing, the state principal secretary (education) filed an affidavit stating that steps had been taken for finalisation of recruitment and promotion rules of lecturer (school new) and DPE, and necessary steps to fill up the vacant posts of these categories would be initiated immediately.

The principal secretary said as on December 31, 693 posts of teachers with junior basic training (JBT), 590 posts of language teacher, 1,049 posts of 'shastri' teachers, 684 of trained graduate teachers (TGT) in arts, 359 posts of TGT (non-medical) and 261 posts of TGT (medical) were lying vacant.

The official told the bench that concurrence of the finance department had been obtained and the approval of cabinet was required, after which steps for selection shall be taken immediately.

During the course of hearing, the advocate general pointed out that in some of the government schools, the attendance of the students was very thin and it was not suitable for government to appoint teachers or to run such schools.

The court showed its displeasure over the slow selection process of teachers by the department of education and submissions of advocate general that some of the government schools were at the verge of closure due to thin attendance of the students.

The court observed that until and unless the government creates and runs the schools in good atmosphere and provide adequate infrastructure for the students to attend schools, it cannot be expected that students would get admitted to the government schools.