The Supreme Court on Tuesday cancelled the appointment of 1.78 lakh assistant teachers as permanent teachers at junior schools in Uttar Pradesh as they were not qualified for the job. The judges held that it was their duty to ensure that children between the age of six and 14 receive good education from duly qualified teachers, The Times of India reported.
The bench of justices AK Goel and UU Lalit said it was their “duty to uphold the rule of law” and that these 1.78 lakh teachers had been appointed illegally.
The Uttar Pradesh government had appointed “shiksha mitras”, or assistant teachers, at schools in villages in 1999. The administration began to regularise their appointment in 2012 to meet the staff shortage, even though they were not qualified for the job. The National Council for Teacher Education requires all applicants to pass the Teacher Eligibility Test, but shiksha mitras only have the basic intermediate level qualification.
The court further said that “shiksha mitras” with the required qualifications – as laid down in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act – can be made full-time teachers, while others can continue part-time. However, the bench said this was only a stop-gap arrangement.
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