Rationalisation row: Teachers' body flags issues with CG's school edu dept

Time of India

26-05-2025

Raipur: The Shaley Shikshak Sangh Chhattisgarh has urged chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai to address critical issues within the school education department, particularly concerning the ongoing rationalisation process.
This comes amidst strong protests and preparations for a 'Mantralaya gherao' by various teachers' organisations on May 28. A total of 23 teachers' organisations are expected to participate in the proposed gherao.
Teachers' Objections
Virendra Dubey, state president of the Sangh, clarified that no teachers' body opposes the initiative to staff teacher-less or single-teacher schools. Their objection, he said, is focused on specific criteria and discrepancies in the rationalisation plan that adversely affect educational quality and accessibility in the state.
Dubey said their main objection is to the move to reduce one teacher each from primary and upper primary schools compared to the 2008 departmental setup.
He added that the School Education Department is now deeming its own existing setup irrelevant and is trying to use the RTE Act 2009 as a shield. The RTE Act, in force for 15 years, sets minimum standards for the country, not the maximum, he added. This means implementing minimum standards is mandatory, but there is no restriction on providing more teachers and resources.
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Dubey pointed out that the act includes a provision for subject-wise teachers, but Chhattisgarh scrapped the system of subject-wise teachers in 2023.
This indicates the department wants to use the RTE Act 2009 as a shield to justify its unilateral, inconsistent, and anti-education, anti-teacher, and anti-student rationalisation process, he said.
The Sangh questioned how rationalisation, which proposes a minimum of 01+01 teachers in primary schools and 01+03 in upper primary schools instead of the earlier 01+02 and 01+04, will improve education quality in Chhattisgarh.
The state ranks between 25th to 30th nationally in educational standards and achievements despite having more teachers than RTE norms, the Sangh said.
The organisation asked the department what happens in primary schools operating under a 01+01 setup if one of the two assistant teachers is a cluster coordinator, or is on leave, transferred, promoted, or assigned to other duties. The Sangh warned that in such cases, the school will be in a single-teacher or teacher-less situation, affecting education quality and child safety.
'Why Is Administrative Setup Not Held Accountable?'
Dubey also pointed out that the administrative setup of the School Education Department worsened, even more than the academic system.
He highlighted the appointment of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers as departmental heads, whose short and undefined tenures often result in frequent changes every one to two yearsin reality.
Many posts of additional director, joint director, and deputy director remain vacant in the directorate.
Appointments to these positions are frequently on an interim basis, with officials often holding charge for years. Most divisions and districts function with in-charge officials instead of permanent, competent officers. Around 80 per cent of high schools and higher secondary schools across the state are managed by in-charge principals, he said.
He termed it unfortunate that the department appears to perpetuate this ad-hoc and in-charge system, evidenced by the absence of promotions in these roles for the past six to eight years.
Dubey questioned why rationalisation is applied solely to the academic cadre within the School Education Department, while there seems to be no effort to rationalise the administrative cadre, who are responsible for the department's disorganisation.
Dharmesh Sharma, sangh general secretary, noted that teachers undergo annual assessment based on various parameters. However, the administrative cadre, whose policies and directives teachers implement, are never assessed.
This, he suggested, leads to teachers being held accountable for policy and administrative failures.
The rationalisation policy had sparked significant opposition from the Congress party, which contends that the policy could lead to closure of schools, particularly affecting tribal regions like Bastar and Surguja. Congress president Deepak Baij also accused the govt of favoring private institutions.
What The Dept Says
The education department said that the rationalisation process adheres to the Right to Education Act and the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, aiming for a fair distribution of teachers across schools. They clarified that surplus teachers will be reallocated, not dismissed, and current posts will be retained for future needs.