New Delhi, 21 September 2022: Given the numerous openings for teachers and principals, Delhiās government schools are reportedly severely short on staff.
According to data from the Directorate of Education (DoE), only 154 of the 950 sanctioned principal positions have been filed, bringing the vacancy proportion to 83.7%. The majority of these schools currently have vice-principals in charge.
āWhen PGT become Vice-Principals, they are given charge of the school and with no administrative experience, the situation further deteriorates. Earlier, the Vice-Principals used to get training for about 5 years from the Principals about the school administration.
“Additionally, the Vice-Principals are not eligible to be promoted without 10 years of experience. So the promotions further got delayed, additionally, the direct recruitments were not done. But in the absence of this, the schools are undergoing tremendous turmoil,ā stated Ajay Veer Yadav, General Secretary, GSTA.
The deficit continues since about 34% of vice principal positions are also unfilled. There are about 65,000 authorized teaching positions that have not yet been filled. Over 20,000 foreign teachers have been hired in an effort to close the gap or lessen it.
āIn the last 7 years, the recruitments have been very less. 50% of the total principal recruitment quota is for Direct Recruitment through UPSC and the remaining 50% is for promotions from Vice-Principals Cadre. The principal promotions have lately not been done by the Delhi government and keep on getting delayed,ā Yadav added.
While a source in the Directorate of Education stated that 33% of open positions, which correspond to 21,910 teachers, are not unfilled. The Delhi government has developed a system for filling regular vacancies with temporary guest teachers. However, the guest teachers cannot share the financial and other related responsibilities or charges. As the employment is not permanent, commitment levels vary.
Ajay Veer Yadav further stated, āNow about 84% principal posts are vacant today, as neither recruitment through UPSC was done nor the promotions were sought by the Department. It has to be understood that schools suffer due to the absence of administrative staff.ā
āRecently, UPSC has conducted the exam for recruitment on the posts of Principals for which the result of written test has been declared so the backlog will be cleared. But if the principals were recruited every year regularly, such problem would not have occured,ā he concluded.