West Bengal Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee has written to HRD Minister, to consider appointment of untrained teachers for a while as West Bengal is continuing to face severe shortage of teachers in its schools. The Centre has exempted other states regarding the same matter but has not made similar reliefs for Bengal.
The Union Ministry has put an embargo on the appointment of untrained teachers from last month. As per the Centre’s rule teachers without training beyond 31 March, 2014 will not be considered for appointments. As per this rule, teachers teaching from Class 8 are required to be trained.
Recruitment of teachers through School Service Commission did not take place last year due to the General Elections as the Court had ordered not to hold examinations scheduled on 29 and 30 March, 2014.
Due to this lag, the State is facing a crisis hence the Chief Minister has requested the Union Minister to extend the deadline so that the same can be dealt with.
The Chief Minister has informed the HRD Minister that the State Government intends to train the para-teachers and secondary teachers with Diploma in Elementary Education in the future. In this regard, the Government has also written to National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) with the same proposal. The Chief Minister has requested HRD Minister to look into the matter and take immediate steps so that this problem can be dealt with at the earliest.