Nitish orders teacher vacancy count in state, ETEducation, Education News, ETEducation

Patna: CM Nitish Kumar on Wednesday announced that he has asked the education department to immediately assess the number of vacant teaching posts in govt schools so that recruitment can begin without delay.

Significantly, for the first time, Bihar’s domicile policy will be enforced during the recruitment process for the 35% of teaching posts reserved exclusively for women. Only women who are residents of Bihar will now be eligible for this quota, following a recent cabinet decision chaired by the chief minister.

“We have asked the education department to immediately start the counting of vacancies on teachers’ posts in govt schools and also start the process for making recruitments on them by conducting the teachers’ recruitment examination (TRE-4.0),” the CM wrote on his social media handle.

“The state govt had earlier made it clear that 35% of the posts will be reserved for women and this quota benefit will be only for women who are residents of Bihar,” he added.

In earlier recruitment drives conducted through the TRE process by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), the 35% quota had been availed by women from outside Bihar. Under the revised policy, such candidates will now have to compete under the general category.

So far, around 3.25 lakh teachers have been appointed through the first three TRE examinations. However, it is understood that nearly 20,000 posts remained unfilled after TRE-3.0. The upcoming TRE-4.0, to be conducted by the BPSC, is expected to fill around 50,000 teaching vacancies.

The recruitment will cover posts in primary (classes I-V), middle (classes VI-VIII), secondary (classes IX-X) and higher secondary (classes XI-XII) schools.

The CM’s move to accelerate teacher recruitment and assert the domicile policy is being viewed as an opportunity for unemployed teaching aspirants in Bihar. It is also seen as a political response aimed at neutralising persistent demands that govt appointments should prioritise state residents.