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Time of India

Freezed since 2012, teacher hiring must restart: Former ZP member

Nagpur: As almost 70 teachers from Nagpur's Zilla Parishad (ZP) schools retired last week, it was a grim reminder for the local body education system where teacher hiring has been stopped since 2012. Each year, the retirees keep moving out, but no fresh full-time staff is being hired, say former officials. In the interim, excess teachers were shuffled across schools to fill gaps. Sharad Bhandarkar, former Kendra Pramukh who oversaw a cluster of ZP schools in Nagpur, said, "Slowly over the next decade or so, the full-time teacher strength would have dwindled drastically. The govt must restart hiring of teachers. Sixty-eight of them retired last week, and this trend continues." There are around 6,000 teachers in ZP schools, but these units face a problem of low enrolment. There are ZP schools where fewer than 20 students study, which then impacts the number of teachers who can be assigned to the school. This is because the state govt has a pupil-teacher ratio, popularly called PTR, and that dictates the hiring dynamics. Education office sources suggest that falling student enrolment — partly due to migration towards English-medium institutions — has also affected staff numbers. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Cervecería Nacional CFD: Calcula cuánto podrías ganar invirtiendo solo $100 Empieza a invertir Inscríbete ahora Undo But former ZP member, Avantika Lekurwale, who headed the Women and Child Welfare Committee, said students will flock to schools if quality education is provided. She said, "Many Marathi-medium schools in Nagpur are thriving because they offer strong learning outcomes. Quality of education in schools is the key to retaining students as already several schools have shifted to semi-English instruction, proving that medium is not the core concern. For the last 12 years, not a single teacher was hired, and we have almost 700 vacancies." To partially address this, the govt has begun hiring contract teachers, Lekurwale said. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Doctor's Day 2025 , messages and quotes!