Haryana: Visiting faculty panel to tide over school teacher shortage

GURUGRAM: To address the issue of teacher shortage and make efforts to improve learning levels of students, the state education department has decided to prepare a district-wise panel of experts who can be empanelled as visiting faculty in government schools.
According to the officials, the state education department has come up with a short-term policy which aims at creating a panel of retired teachers and young graduates who are willing to provide subject-wise sessions in government schools.
This, the department claims, will provide an interim resolution to the shortage of educators.
Every district will prepare a subject-wise panel of prospective educators. These panels will also include school heads that will coordinate with the selected educators to schedule classes as per the need.
The move comes after the department concluded its school consolidation and mega transfer drive in September this month. "We are working on a host of possible solutions to ensure that each child gets a teacher and each teacher is better utilised. There was a proposal to create a pool of subject-wise educators in all districts who can bridge the gaps until the hiring process of contractual teachers via Haryana Kaushal Rozgaar Nigam (state skill development corporation) and regular teachers is finalised. The idea is that the time taken in the hiring process should not affect studies, since this is a crucial year in terms of bridging learning gaps," said a senior education department official.
The department has sent the proposal to the government for approval. To make the process transparent and ensure that these panels consist of eligible educators selected on a merit basis, the department has sought support from the nigam. "It will prepare subject-wise panels by interviewing retired teachers or young graduates who are willing to take up this role," the official added.
This, the department has maintained, will be in addition to the recruitment of around 18,000 teachers - around 7,000 of whom will be hired via Haryana Kaushal Rozgaar Nigam.