Teachers’ organisations affiliated to the Left Democratic Front (LDF) have come out against the government order waiving the preference given to high school teachers in higher secondary by transfer appointments.
Both the Kerala School Teachers’ Association (KSTA) and the All Kerala School Teachers Union (AKSTU) have petitioned Minister for Education V. Sivankutty demanding that the State government withdraw the order, according to which high school teachers with 10 years of experience could be considered for appointment by transfer as higher secondary teachers in government and aided schools only in the absence of candidates with State Eligibility Test (SET) qualification.
High school teacher, upper primary and lower primary school teacher, ministerial staff in the higher secondary wing, and lab assistants with SET qualification would get priority in appointment to the posts of higher secondary school teacher (HSST) or HSST junior.
The decision comes in the wake of the assessment that currently there was no shortage of candidates with SET qualification, which is mandatory for appointment as higher secondary teacher.
Qualified high school or primary teachers were given by transfer appointment as higher secondary teachers since pre-degree was detached from college education and higher secondary started at the school level in 1997. Also, by transfer appointment was being affected owing to absence of teachers with SET. In 2001, SET was waived for teachers with 10 years of experience in high school for appointment as higher secondary teachers. However, now this priority in eligibility has been removed, ostensibly because 25 years after higher secondary was shifted to schools, this relaxation was benefiting teachers, not students.
Amendments allowing the SET waiver had been made in the Kerala Education Rules (KER), but in the wake of the latest decision KER would be amended, the order said.
Withdraw order
Opposing the order, the KSTA and the AKSTU said the order waiving the benefit to teachers unilaterally and without any discussion should be withdrawn. Teachers had enjoyed the benefits of the waiver for the past 25 years, and stopping it all of a sudden would affect them, KSTA general secretary N.T. Sivarajan said.
AKSTU general secretary O.K. Jayakrishnan said the order would allow aided school managers to bypass service guidelines and appoint whom they choose. Negating the by transfer promotion guidelines unilaterally was not acceptable, they said in the communication to the Minister.
