All teaching and non-teaching appointments that have been put on hold in aided schools in the State in connection with implementing reservation for the differently abled should be examined by regional deputy directors, assistant directors, and deputy directors of education concerned and approved by July 15.
The Directorate of General Education on Sunday issued a circular revising the guidelines for preparation of roster for calculating the backlog in appointments and their approval. The circular said that managers of aided schools and education officers had been given directions repeatedly to prepare a roster register by calculating the backlog in appointments by following 3% of reservations from February 7, 1996, to April 18, 2017, and 4% of reservations according to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, from April 19, 2017, and give temporary approval.
However, there were widespread complaints that most managers did not prepare the rosters or keep aside vacancies for differently abled quota and report these to employment exchanges, and or give approval to those working without these.
Following this, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty chaired a meeting that decided to issue revised guidelines. As per the guidelines, management that had not prepared the roster should do so by June 25, and submit requisition forms to employment exchanges by June 30 in order to get differently abled persons for vacancies set aside for them as per the backlog. They should also specify whether the backlog vacancy is from 3% or 4%.
Moreover, while seeking job aspirants for the 3% vacancies, priority should be in the following order: blindness or low vision; hearing impairment; locomotor disability; or cerebral palsy. Priority for the 4% quota vacancies is in the following order: blindness and low vision; deaf and hard of hearing; locomotor disability, including cerebral palsy, leprosy crude dwarfism, acid attack victims, and muscular dystrophy; autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability, and mental illness; and multiple disabilities from among persons under above clauses.
Once the employment exchanges receive the requisition form, they should hand over the list of differently abled aspirants to the managers by July 20. Once the managers complete the procedures, education officers should take follow-up action by July 10. Appointments to aided school managements that follow government orders should be examined and disposed of. Else, strict disciplinary action will be taken against the education officers.
The differently abled need to produce the ‘job oriented physical and functionality certificate’ at the time of interview only. It should be obtained from the medical authority stipulated by the Social Justice department. Managers should appoint the differently abled to vacancies on the basis of the list obtained from employment exchanges by August 15. Till the time managers prepare the roster and education officers to approve the same, inter-management transfers should not be allowed.
