There was a time when school managements were flooded with applications for teaching posts. But in a complete U-turn, schools are scrambling to get qualified applicants for vacant teaching posts. The problem of staff shortage has become all the more urgent offline classes set to resume on Monday.
In order to tackle this deficit, many school managements are trying to recruit younger teachers and reduce the number of rounds for the interview process.
Dakshayini Khanna, senior principal of Harvest International School, said that the recruitment criteria had changed to hire younger teachers that fit their budget. “We also want to hire younger teachers and there is demand for those who are in the 30 to 35 years age bracket as they are more open to adapting to new teaching methods. This academic year we want teachers who have good communication and technology skills as well as subject knowledge,” she said.
With salary cuts, many teachers have resigned this academic year and relocated to other cities. Mansoor Ali Khan, member, board of management, DPS Group of Schools, said that in the past their schools would receive at least five applications for one teaching position. “We would have an elaborate and rigorous selection process that includes a written round, demo class and an interview. We have converted all these rounds online,” he said.
D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka said that earlier school managements were conducting at least four rounds before shortlisting a candidate. “Now, however, we conduct only one or a maximum of two rounds before recruiting teachers.” He also said that it was difficult to find teachers with high qualifications.
