Govt schools lack office assistants, night watchmen

Coimbatore: The state government should recruit office assistants (OAs) and night watchmen for government high and higher secondary schools, representatives of the School Education Department Administrative Workers Association said.
The representatives said that in some schools, as there are no OAs, teachers or clerks ring the school bell. “Chores such as collecting documents and communications from the district education offices are also now being done by teachers and clerks. These are jobs meant for office assistants,” said M Arunkumar, district president of the association. “The vacancies have not been filled in any of the high and higher secondary schools in the state. As many as 150 schools in the district don’t have OAs.”
Only half of the schools in the district have night watchmen, Arunkumar said. “This has created a sense of apprehension among HMs as there are possibilities of anti-social elements entering campuses at night. Night watchmen must be recruited soon,” he said. “Or, the state should allow government schools to hire them.”
Members of the association had put forth the demands to the Coimbatore chief education officer recently.