Chhattisgarh to reallocate 2,621 BEd teachers in Science roles

More than 2,600 assistant teachers with BEd (Bachelor of Education) degrees, whose services were terminated by the Chhattisgarh government following a court order, will be absorbed in vacant posts in science laboratories of state-run schools, an official said on Wednesday.

A decision in this regard was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai here at Mantralaya (state secretariat), he said.

Sai, in a post on 'X', said, "Known for good governance, our government has done justice to 2,621 BEd-qualified assistant teachers whose services were terminated after appointment through Direct Recruitment 2023.

"We have decided to accommodate all these assistant teachers in the posts of Assistant Teacher Science (Laboratory). The School Education Department has been authorized for this (the absorption process)." The absorption will be done on non-advertised posts. Assistant teachers who have passed 12th from the arts/science faculty will be given three years to complete the prescribed qualification (12th maths/science). These candidates will be given two months of special training through the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) regarding laboratory work, the official informed.

Under the process, the vacant posts in scheduled area districts will be filled first followed by positions lying vacant in border districts. Other districts will be preferred later, he said.

The state government had terminated the services of these assistant teachers of primary schools in compliance with a Chhattisgarh High Court order dated April 2, 2024.

Notably, the issue of their termination stemmed from a notification of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) which was quashed by the Rajasthan High Court in 2021.

On June 28, 2018, the NCTE, a statutory body of the Centre, had issued a notification stating BEd degree holders were eligible for appointment to the post of primary school teachers (Classes I to V) earlier, for which only DEd (Diploma in Education) or D.El.Ed (Diploma in Elementary Education) holders were considered qualified.

Based on this notification, the Chhattisgarh school education department had issued a notification including BEd as a qualification for appointment to the post of assistant teachers in the state.

While hearing a case pertaining to the appointment of primary teachers in Rajasthan, the Rajasthan High Court quashed the 2018 NCTE notification in 2021, holding BEd candidates to be unqualified for the posts of primary school teachers.

The matter later went to the Supreme Court, which on August 11, 2023, upheld the Rajasthan HC order quashing the 2018 NCTE notification. The apex court, however, noted BEd-qualified teachers appointed prior to this judgement will not be affected by its ruling.

Meanwhile, on May 4, 2023, the Chhattisgarh government published an advertisement for the vacant posts of primary school teachers in which both BEd and DEd holders were invited in the selection process.

On June 10, 2023, recruitment examinations were conducted, and results were declared in July the same year. The appointment process of the selected teachers started in September 2023. However, DEd-qualified candidates approached the Chhattisgarh HC, challenging the appointments of BEd holders as primary school teachers.

On April 2 last year, the Chhattisgarh HC held the notification of qualification of BEd as eligible for the post of assistant teacher (Classes I to V) as illegal and quashed their appointments.

On December 10 last year, the High Court, in a contempt case for not implementing its order dated April 2, 2024, granted the Chhattisgarh government "two weeks" for complying with its order.

Subsequently, the state government sacked the assistant teachers with BEd degrees, triggering state-wide protests by them.

However, on January 3, the government formed an inter-departmental committee headed by the chief secretary to look into the demands of the terminated teachers, which includes their absorption in vacant posts in the education department.