SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, May 7: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Jharkhand government to issue notifications inviting applications exclusively from para teachers for appointment to 50 per cent earmarked vacancies in Assistant Teacher and Sahayak Acharya posts.
A bench of Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice S.V.N. Bhatti issued the direction while disposing of a batch of appeals filed by para teachers, including Sunil Kumar Yadav, working under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in Jharkhand.
The court refused to grant blanket regularisation to para teachers but ordered the state to implement and periodically honour the statutory recruitment mechanism already created under the Jharkhand Primary School Teacher Recruitment Rules, 2012 and the Jharkhand Elementary School Sahayak Acharya Cadre Rules, 2022.
Huge teacher shortage highlighted
The judgment recorded that Jharkhand has been facing a severe shortage of teachers in primary and middle schools across the state.
The para teachers had informed the court that there was a shortage of nearly 1.5 lakh Assistant Teachers in government schools across Jharkhand’s 24 districts.
The order also referred to sanctioned para-teacher posts under the SSA, including 83,595 posts for primary schools and 37,133 posts for upper primary schools.
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During the hearing, the state government informed the court that over 7,300 para teachers had already secured appointments through the recruitment process conducted under existing rules. This included 3,304 appointments under the reserved para-teacher category and 3,997 appointments under the open category.
Annual recruitment calendar mandated
The apex court directed the state government to undertake the exercise of filling up 50 per cent of the available vacancies reserved for para teachers every academic year.
The court fixed timelines for determining vacancies, issuing advertisements, preparing merit lists and issuing appointment letters.
For the current academic year, the state has been directed to determine vacancies within four weeks and complete the recruitment process within 10 weeks from the date of advertisement.
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Court observation on education and public employment
The bench observed that the state should move away from ad hoc arrangements in education and ensure stability in teaching services.
“The sense of security of employment is a sine qua non for enhancing efficiency in any service, and education is no different,” the court observed.
The judgment further stated that “the time has come for the executive to conduct periodic performance audits and eliminate ad hocism in public employment.”
The court also noted that strengthening education at the primary and secondary levels requires quality teaching rather than temporary arrangements.
At the same time, the court held that para teachers have a right to participation and consideration under existing rules, but not an automatic right to regularisation.