With aim to ensure that teachers stay back in Kutch, Gujarat govt introduces lifetime service clause

The decision, a first for the state, was notified on Wednesday and would be applicable from the current academic session.

“At present, there is a vacancy of over 3,000 government primary teachers in Kutch alone. Kutch district has faced this perennial issue of teachers not staying there for long. They either seek transfer to their home districts or other places. As a solution to this, under direct orders of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, it was decided to appoint candidates for lifetime in Kutch district,” Minister of State for Education Praful Pansheriya told The Indian Express.

In addition to the earlier approved recruitment positions of 5,000 vidyasahayak for Class I till V, 2,500 additional seats are to be filled by direct recruitment in Kutch.

Similarly, in upper primary classes — Class VI till VIII — in the 7,000 vidyasahayak posts approved to be filled, 1,600 would be for Kutch district alone, the state government declared.

The issue of huge vacancy in Kutch district aggravated nearly two years back when due to change in policy, most of the teachers sought transfers back to their home districts. Officials shared that since Kutch has a majority of teachers from other districts, they return to their home districts whenever they are eligible as per the norms.

“Today, there are more than 4,000 vacant posts of government teachers in Kutch district. In other districts, 60-70 per cent of teachers are locals while here, the figure is only 10-15 per cent. Most of the teachers appointed in Kutch district are either from Saurashtra or northern districts. They work here for five years and then return to their home district, which they can seek as per rules after five years. This is a reason why 2,000-3,000 teachers get transferred every year from Kutch,” Kutch District Education Officer (DEO) Sanjaybhai Parmar told The Indian Express.

Keeping in mind the poor retention of government teachers in Kutch along with a few other districts, the state government, in 2017, introduced recruitment with a bond clause for 65 talukas in districts of Dahod, Panchmahal, Kutch, Banaskantha, Devbhoomi Dwarka and Chhota Udepur that a teacher appointed has to stay in the same block of a district for at least 10 years. This was changed to five years for transfer outside the district and two years for transfer to another block, around two years back.

“There is no bond clause in the recruitment conducted for the last two years. Today, more than 60 per cent teachers posts in Kutch are vacant. Combining both primary and secondary classes, around 5,000-6,000 posts are vacant,” Digvijaysinh Jadeja, president of Government Primary Teachers’ Association, said.

However, with this new “lifetime” clause, authorities are hopeful this issue will be addressed. “The eligibility criteria would be the same for these candidates as in any other district except the lifetime service clause. Definitely, students and schools will benefit with this decision. There will be eligible candidates ready for appointment in Kutch,” Pansheriya added.