Official approval for teachers’ appointments in aided schools in Kerala continues to get delayed over the implementation of the differently abled quota.
A section of aided primary school managers has alleged that the Education department officials are deliberately delaying the approval for general category teachers even in places where all the reservation criteria for the appointment of differently abled applicants have been followed. Functionaries of the Kerala Aided (Primary) School Managers Association claimed that because of this administrative delay, the appointment of 12,000 teachers in the State was in limbo.
As per an order of the Director of General of Education, the managers are supposed to upload a copy of the reservation roster; a requisition letter to the Employment Exchange seeking filling of posts for the differently abled applicants, including backlog ones; and a letter signed by the respective manager; to the Samanvaya website of the department. According to a government order and a subsequent circular, the teachers in general category appointed after November 18, 2018, will get a temporary approval for their posts if these steps are followed. Those appointed till November 8, 2021, will get pay scale-based appointment and those recruited later will get daily wage-based appointment. The managers are supposed to produce the details of the teachers appointed after February 2, 1996, for preparing the reservation roster. The managers alleged that some officials, however, claim that they had not received any order to examine the roster.
Denying rights
K.N. Anand, State vice-president of the Differently abled Employees’ Association, meanwhile, pointed out that there was a nexus between school managers and government officials to inordinately delay the appointment of differently abled applicants and deny them their right. The government came up with the above directions after many years of legal battle and a court order in favour of the differently abled persons. Efforts were being made to bypass this, Mr. Anand added.
No proper norms yet
The managers claimed that the officials were not ready to approve the postings of teachers in schools which had been following the reservation norms for the differently abled since 1996, when the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights, and Full Participation) Act, 1995, came into effect. This was mainly because the government had not devised proper guidelines for implementing the Act in all these years. There was no reason to delay the approval process for those who have submitted all the required documents by April 30. At least some of these officials were set to retire on May 31. They were unlikely to act on the applications till their service period was over, the managers alleged.
