Kerala acts to rein in aided schools

The Kerala government’s decision to make it tougher for aided schools to create new posts and recruit teachers seems to have hit the managements of such schools where it hurts the most. Recruitment is the easiest way to make money for some of them. Since teaching jobs are in demand, they are able to put a price tag on each post—up to `30 lakh—and since it’s the government that pays the salaries, they are always on the lookout for an opportunity to create new posts. About 60% of schools in the state are in the aided sector and the government spends around `4,800 crore annually on salaries of teachers in these schools (of the total `7,600 crore that it spends on teachers). Already, salaries and pensions account for more than 40% of the government’s revenue expenditure, and keeping a check on appointments in aided institutions is the right step in the direction of curbing the mounting wage bill.

Announcing that new posts should be created only with the concurrence of the government and that the Kerala Education Rules will be amended accordingly, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac in his Budget said as many as 18,119 posts were created in aided schools in the last four years without following proper procedures. “The situation that one post could be created if the student ratio exceeds by even one student will have to change,” he said. Understandably, the managements are upset and some of them offered to give up control of schools if the government pays the rent. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hit back saying if the government can pay the salaries, it can very well run the schools. 

The government is right in making efforts to curb the practice of managements creating new posts by inflating numbers, but it needs to ensure that the pupil-teacher ratio mandated by the Right to Education Act is not tweaked. The government is understood to have decided to limit student intake, introduce the neighbourhood school concept and not ratify appointments made without justification. Having decided to take the bull by the horns, the government should not buckle under pressure, but push ahead with its efforts to cleanse the system.