Udaipur– The Rajasthan Panchayati Raj and Secondary Teachers' Association has sounded alarm bells over a systemic breakdown in the state's education sector, citing a prolonged absence of promotions for senior teachers to district education officers spanning four academic sessions.

With the new academic year commencing on July 1, numerous crucial positions, including senior teachers and principals, remain vacant. This shortage has extended to education officer roles, severely hampering administrative operations.

During the recent visit of Education and Panchayati Raj Minister Madan Dilawar to Udaipur, a delegation led by the Association's President, Sher Singh Chauhan, welcomed him and submitted a 14-point demand letter. The letter urged for the swift execution of Departmental Promotion Committees (DPCs) for teachers and education officers, and the reassignment of over 20,000 surplus teachers who have been left without postings for a year. They also requested a bilateral dialogue in Jaipur to address these issues.

Key Points of the Demand Letter

Urgent Need for Promotions:

• The association highlighted that due to the absence of DPCs and postings for the past four academic sessions, positions from third-grade teachers to senior teachers, lecturers, vice principals, principals, and district education officers remain vacant. This has resulted in significant operational challenges within schools and administrative offices. Many education officer offices are forced to function with one officer handling multiple responsibilities.

Revisions in Promotion Rules:

• The association requested amendments to the rules that hinder DPCs, proposing a resolution of pending court cases and conducting DPCs simultaneously for all pending cases. This would enable long-overdue promotions for teachers and education officers.

Addressing Transfer Issues:

• Chauhan emphasized the plight of third-grade teachers who have not seen any transfers in the past six years, leading to growing dissatisfaction within the largest cadre of teachers. The association demanded the implementation of a transparent transfer policy, eliminating political interference, and ensuring mandatory transfers for all categories of teachers based on policy.

Direct Recruitment for Vice Principals:

• To promote young and talented teachers, the association proposed that 50% of vice principal positions should be filled through direct recruitment.

The association expressed concern that teachers, especially those in subjects like social science, Sanskrit, Hindi, agriculture, and commerce, do not receive promotions to senior teacher positions even after 20 to 25 years of service due to flawed service rules.

In many districts, promotions to the senior teacher positions in these subjects were granted a decade ago. However, even today, they are not counted in the senior teacher category.

The association has urged for special promotion opportunities based on quantitative criteria for teachers in these subjects, ensuring every teacher gets equal opportunities for promotion after a minimum of nine years of service.

They have called for amendments to the promotion rules and advocated for a complete ban on assigning teachers to non-teaching duties such as mid-day meal distribution, milk distribution, and office work.