Nishant Saxena

A recent report of the state education directorate has revealed that 30% of the posts of teachers and principals in state-government-aided minority schools are lying vacant in Uttar Pradesh.

According to the report, which has been reportedly sent to the state government, the state has 7,795 posts of principals and teachers sanctioned in more than 300 government-aided high schools and inter-colleges being run by minority societies of Muslims, Christians, Jains, and Bengalis, among others, across the 75 districts of the state.

Of these 7,795 positions, 2,312 (around 30%) are vacant. After the formation of the government led by chief minister Yogi Adityanath in the state in 2017, recruitment in these institutions was put on hold in an effort to introduce a transparent recruitment policy for staff of these institutions. The government did introduce the promised guidelines for the recruitment of teachers, but no recruitments have taken place since, and as a result, academic activities in these institutions have been affected.

For conducting the written examination of teachers’ recruitment as mandated in the new guidelines, the process of agency selection has been going on at the government level since August 2022. On the basis of this, after making a panel of the top five candidates on the merit list, appointments were to be made in minority institutions only among the selected candidates. However, no such development has taken place even after eight months.

Before 2017, the managers of these colleges used to appoint teachers directly at their level after taking permission from the officers of the state secondary education department. This often resulted in allegations of anomalies in the recruitment undertaken. Being a minority institution, the details of vacant posts at these institutions are not sent to the Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Service Selection Board as they are at non-minority high schools and intermediate colleges.

Officials have reportedly conceded that there is also a shortage of non-teaching staff in these institutions. Around 42 out of 201 posts of head clerks, 221 out of 653 posts of assistant clerks, and 1,299 out of 3,285 posts of attendants are vacant in these institutions, they added.

Also Read: 51,000 teaching positions vacant in UP, No recruitment drive planned