Agartala, July 12: 6766 teachers have been appointed in last five years in Tripura. Still there is a shortage of 5155 teachers. Education Minister and Chief Minister Professor (Dr.) Manik Saha gave that information in response to the attention-grabbing notice of Opposition leader Animesh Debbarma on the third day of the budget session in the Tripura Legislative Assembly.
In the question and answer session in the Legislative Assembly today, there was a long discussion on several issues related to education. The opposition has tried hard to pin down the Tripura government over the teacher shortage. Even, there has been talk of Right to Education Act and new education policies. He responded to the opposition targeting the Chief Minister even with the sacked 10323 teachers.
In response to the attention-grabbing notice, the Chief Minister said that education infrastructure and teachers are very important in promoting quality education in Tripura. He admitted that Tripura currently lacks the required number of teachers. However, he also explained specific reasons for it. According to him, a number of teachers retire regularly every month. Moreover, the Supreme Court’s order originally ending the appointment of 10,323 teachers in 2020 is another reason behind the shortage of teachers.
On this day, the Chief Minister gave information about the shortage of teachers at various levels in the schools of the Education Department. He said, there is a shortage of 1615 undergraduate teachers, 1643 graduate teachers from sixth to eighth grade, 1239 graduate teachers from ninth to 10th grade, 546 subject teachers and 112 special educators for a total of 5155 teachers.
But as an ongoing process Tripura government has appointed new teachers every year, he claimed. According to him, TRBT is conducting TET examination regularly and the department is recruiting undergraduate and graduate teachers by selecting eligible candidates. Moreover, the post examination is being conducted regularly through TRBT for graduate teachers at secondary level and subject teachers at higher secondary level. He also added that a special educator has been appointed for the first time last year. Through these methods, a number of teachers have been recruited in the state at various levels in the last 5 years.
Highlighting that information, the Chief Minister said that 1062 undergraduate teachers, 3701 graduate teachers from sixth to eighth grade, 1471 graduate teachers from ninth to 10th grade, 444 subject teachers and 88 special educators have been appointed to a total of 6766 people.
Teachers are recruited every year depending on the financial resources of the government. As a result of the recruitment of teachers every year, our state currently has no single teacher-run schools among the Tripura government-run schools. However, this effort to fill the vacancies of teachers at various levels continues.
Also he added, TRBT has conducted the recruitment exam for 230 posts of graduate teachers for class IX to X at the secondary level. But as a result of the decision to change the existing reservation system in the judgment of a case on the reservation of 230 posts, no final decision has been taken in this regard yet.
He said that the Tripura government will approach the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict. He said, by adopting a continuous recruitment process, it is hoped that the number of teacher vacancies will be greatly reduced in the next few years.
