Odisha govt to hire retired teachers to tide over vacancy problem

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury
Bhubaneswar, Aug 14:

Finding it difficult to fill up vacant teachers’ posts in government high schools, the Odisha government has decided to engage retired teachers in to impart quality education to students.The retired teachers will be engaged in government high schools in their localities under the ‘Teacher on Call’ scheme.

“Due to dearth of qualified teachers of respective categories, there are many vacancies in government high schools for which students are suffering. The process of engagement of contract teachers against such vacancies may take considerable time. Keeping in view the importance of the subjects concerned, the government, after careful consideration, has decided to engage retired teachers of the locality close to the school under the ‘Teacher on Call’ scheme,” said School and Mass Education secretary Usha Padhy.

The teachers will be selected through a selection committee to be headed by district education officer (DEO). The tenure of engagement of the retired teachers would be from September 1 this year to March 31, 2015 or till filling of posts by contract teachers, informed Padhy.

However, the maximum age limit for the retired teachers shall be 65 years. In exceptional cases, the age limit can be relaxed by the selection committee.

While the teachers would get Rs 300 per class as remuneration, they can take a maximum of three classes per day and eight working days per month.