<p>The GR, issued on June 5, talks about appointment of teachers temporarily for every 100 students</p> — The GR, issued on June 5, talks about appointment of teachers temporarily for every 100 students

Pune: Teachers’ associations have opposed a govt resolution on appointing teachers for sports and arts on a clock-hour basis for classes VI to VIII in schools run by local bodies.

Mahendra Ganpule, the spokesperson of Maharashtra School Principals’ Federation, said the remuneration of Rs 150 per hour is too low for a teaching job, and all appointments must be made on a regular basis to ensure quality and continuity in govt schools.

“This policy is unfair for unemployed, qualified, and trained teacher candidates in the state and this will undermine the quality of education. According to this policy, teachers will be paid only Rs 150 per hour but they will have a workload of 48 hours per week, equal to full-time teachers, but the remuneration that they will get is only Rs 12,000 per month. Not only are the unemployed teachers being cheated, but the recruitment process is also unclear and opaque. We demand that the govt revoke this GR and recruit teachers on a regular basis through the ‘Pavitra Portal’,” he said.

The GR, issued on June 5, talks about appointment of teachers temporarily for every 100 students. However, Nitin Memane, a ZP teacher, pointed out that there are hardly any school in rural and remote areas in the state that fulfils this criteria. “I teach in Bhor taluka, where there would be 100 schools having classes VI to VIII, but none with a strength of 100 students. Purandar and Velhe taluka also share a similar fate. Baramati, which is the most developed taluka, hardly has any school run by a local body having 100 students in classes VI to VIII. If the govt really wants rural students to benefit from extracurricular activities, they must appoint teachers on a full-time basis without considering student strength or at least a lowered strength.”Sunil Borole, secretary of Arts Teachers’ Association, said they have been fighting for permanent positions for a long time but to no avail. “According to the rules, a D.Ed teacher can teach all subjects in primary classes. But arts is not like any other subject. You require skills for it. If the students don’t know the basics, how will they develop the skill? If there are no jobs, why would students take up a course in college? The same goes for sports education. We need sports teachers. How can we talk about winning medals in sports for India when we don’t have sports teachers to nurture the talent?” he said.