Date:29/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/29/stories/2006122908620500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

23,000 teachers to be recruited by May-end

Special Correspondent

4,768 teachers to get orders soon

2,466 teachers to be recruited under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Proposal to bring unaided schools under grant-in-aid scheme

BANGALORE: The State Government has decided to recruit 23,000 teachers for primary and secondary schools and pre-university colleges in the State by May 31, 2007.

Addressing presspersons after a review of the Education Department's progress in the current fiscal, Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj Horatti said that appointment orders to 4,768 primary school teachers would be issued by next week. The rest would be recruited in phases.

Proposal

Mr. Horatti said that a proposal had been sent to the Finance Department for appointment of 5,912 primary school teachers, 5,998 high school teachers, 598 high school headmasters and 600 pre-university lecturers. As many as 2,466 teachers would be recruited under the Centre's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme. The recruitment process would be completed by May end, he added.

Mr. Yediyurappa said the Government would consider a proposal to bring unaided schools set up before 1992 under the purview of grant-in-aid scheme after studying their economic status.

As many as 1,309 primary schools, 667 high schools and 102 junior colleges were eligible for grant-in-aid from the Government. But such schools should follow Government rules in appointments and administration. The proposal would cost the exchequer Rs. 128 crore a year, he said.

Grants

The Government had been providing grants to educational institutions set up by the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, Mr. Yediyurappa said.

Managements of some private institutions had been demanding grants. Private schools opened after 1992 had given an undertaking that they would not seek aid from the Government, Mr. Yediyurappa said.

The Finance Minister, Mr. Horatti and Minister for Higher Education D.H. Shankaramurthy held a meeting with legislators elected from the teachers' and graduates' constituencies and the officials of the Education Department.

Mr. Horatti said the department was considering a proposal to recruit art teachers for primary schools.

The S.M. Krishna Government banned recruitment of art teachers in 2002, he said.