Govt committed to ensuring quota for persons with disabilities, says Kerala education minister, ETEducation
T’puram: General education and labour minister V Sivankutty on Thursday told the assembly that the govt is firmly committed to implementing reservation for persons with disabilities in aided school appointments while also addressing the concerns of teachers appointed under the general category, strictly in line with court directions.
Making a statement under Rule 300, the minister said disability reservation was part of school appointments in the state since 1996 and was enhanced in line with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. In govt schools, appointments were made through the PSC by following the mandated reservation, while in aided schools the govt issued a specific order in 2018 to extend the same principle. That order was upheld by the high court, including by a division bench, and later accepted by the Supreme Court after the special leave petition filed by some school managers was withdrawn in 2021.
Based on subsequent court rulings in 2022 and 2023, the govt issued further directions governing appointments of persons with disabilities in aided schools and the approval of appointments made in the general category. The minister said the law clearly laid down an order of preference among different categories of disabilities and required that posts earmarked for persons with disabilities could not be diverted to the open category unless eligible candidates were unavailable even after following the prescribed process.
The minister said the govt already issued around 50 orders on the subject and also published a handbook to make disability appointments more transparent and efficient. Following an interim order of the Supreme Court in a related case, state and district-level committees were formed through a govt order issued on March 24, 2025, to ensure that appointments in aided schools are completed in a time-bound manner.
He said even before the committees became functional, around 1,500 persons with disabilities were appointed through employment exchanges and direct recruitment by managers. In the first phase of recommendations made by district committees, 431 qualified candidates from the disability category were recommended for appointment on Jan 24, and steps are under way to fill the remaining vacancies.
Referring to litigation involving the Nair Service Society, the minister said the SC in March 2025 allowed approval of appointments made in general category posts other than those specifically reserved for persons with disabilities but clarified that the ruling applied only to NSS managements. He said the govt approached the SC seeking permission to apply the same principle to similarly placed aided school managements. The case, which came up on Feb 2, has been posted to April 14. The minister said the govt is confident of a positive outcome.
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