Jharkhand HC orders state to fast-track 26,000 school teacher appointments before next academic year

On April 8, Chief Justice M S Ramachandra Rao, who was hearing a petition on teacher shortages in Jharkhand, directed the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) and other authorities to fast-track recruitment for 26,000 teaching posts in government schools while ensuring the process to be “fair, transparent, and time-bound”.

In response to the directive, the JSSC, in its counter-affidavit, proposed a one-year timeline, stating that it must first complete the re-examination process for intermediate teachers in the remaining subjects. The affidavit mentions that although the JSSC has already conducted exams for Sahayak Acharya (Graduate Trained Teacher for Classes 6 to 8 and Intermediate Trained Teacher for Classes 1 to 5) in various districts, re-examinations still need to be held for the subjects Urdu, Kurmali, Panch Pargania, and Ho. The expected timeline to complete these appointments for 11,000 intermediate-trained and 15,001 graduate-trained teachers is by January 2026.

The Chief Justice summoned the Advocate General (AG), who assured the Bench that the appointments will be completed by November 2025. However, Justice Rao directed him to reduce the proposed timeline to ensure that no child suffers in the upcoming academic year.

“AG, it’s is not an adversarial litigation,” the court told the AG.

The order was issued in the presence of Uma Shankar Singh, Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy. The AG is required to appear at the next hearing on April 23 and provide a more specific timeframe.

In their petition, economist and activist Dr Jean Drèze and Paran Amitava want the state to comply with provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009, which requires at least two teachers in every school, and at least one teacher for every 30 children.

Jharkhand has more than 8,000 single-teacher schools, and severe teacher shortages in other schools as well. Speaking with The Indian Express, Jean Drèze said the chief justice had objected to the state’s time frame. “He castigated the Department of School Education for ‘going in slow-motion’, and kept asking what would happen to the children of Jharkhand with this sort of education,” Drèze said.

His lawyer, advocate Piyushita Meha Tudu called this a “step forward” but also cautioned: “…we must remember that appointing 26,000 teachers is not sufficient to ensure compliance with the minimum teacher-pupil norms prescribed by the Right to Education Act”.