Dip in number of excess teachers in government, aided schools

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The number of excess teachers in government and aided schools in the state has recorded a marginal drop this year as the staff fixation procedure in these institutions come to a close early this week.

As many as 3,753 teaching staff have been found excess, which is 206 less than teachers who were rendered excess by the end of staff fixation last year. Teachers who were found excess last year have also been considered for staff fixation this year and hence the latest numbers represent the total number of excess staff.

“The number of excess staff, teaching and non-teaching together, was 4,059 last year. And the number of teaching staff who lose their post would come down further as the government has revised the teacher-student ratio in Class IX and X to 1:40 from 1:45. This process would be complete by July 18,” director of public instructions K V Mohankumar said. He said the number might be below 3,500.

Meanwhile, education department has completed the redeployment of all the excess teachers against various vacancies, on a temporary basis. Of the close to 4,000 teachers found excess, only 102 were given postings outside their native district.

The number of excess teachers did not match with the impressive increase in the number of students at public schools. The reason, according to officials, is that the spike in student enrolment was mostly limited to schools with impressive track records. “If the number of students increases in a well-established school, the number of teaching posts wouldn’t increase correspondingly. Also, of the 1.8 lakh of increased students’ strength, most admissions happened in primary classes. While the schools have 5,926 less students in Class X, there was a marginal increase of 189 students in Class VIII,” sources said.

Since the aided school managements have challenged the teachers’ package in high court, the plans for redeployment of excess teachers against 50% of vacancies arising in aided schools are in limbo. The court is expected to pronounce a final verdict in this regard by the end of this month.