BMC to accommodate surplus state govt teachers in civic-run schools

A set of teachers, however, held a protest against the move on Wednesday, claiming that it would affect the education at night schools.

Confirming the adjustment of surplus teachers, the order issued by BMC Education department on Tuesday stated: “Among Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati; teachers from total 7 mediums are included in the process. These include 145 teachers catering to Classes I to V, 243 teachers catering to Classes VI to VIII, and 167 teachers catering to Classes IX and X.”

The first batch of these teachers were called for the process of adjustment on vacant positions as per their educational qualification and experience on Wednesday following which several aspirants reached the head office of the BMC Education Department on Currey Road.

Teachers opposed to the BMC move, meanwhile, met Maharashtra School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar requesting a stay on the process.

Shivnath Darade from Maharashtra Rajya Shikshak Parishad said, “These surplus teachers were originally adjusted in night schools. Moving them to BMC schools now when board exams are approaching will be unfair to students in night schools.

Moreover, BMC’s own teachers, around 100 of them, are out of system as they are deputed for non-academic jobs such as election duty and other tasks. And now these state government teachers are being adjusted on those posts.” Darade also questioned the “temporary nature” of the adjustment. It is not yet clear as to how many out of the 555 surplus teachers will be accommodated in BMC schools.

An official from the BMC, requesting anonymity, said, “Such adjustment is a regular practice in other districts where surplus teachers from state government schools are accommodated in civic schools on vacant positions. The idea behind this (the move to BMC schools) is to offer surplus teachers an opportunity to continue working in the same regions. Otherwise, they may have to relocate their base.”

The BMC has participated in this process for the first time by requesting the office of DyDE Mumbai to provide a list of surplus teachers who can be accommodated on vacant posts in civic schools.