Bihar Cabinet approves teacher recruitment rules; teachers to get state employee status

NEW DELHI: In a major development, the Bihar Cabinet today announced that the government school teachers will now get the state employees status. It approved new rules under which the state government will constitute a Commission for recruiting teachers in government schools.

The cabinet meeting chaired by the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar decided that “the teachers will be given the status of state employees, they will be given all the facilities along with attractive salaries”.

It was also decided at the Cabinet meeting that the government will increase the dearness allowance (DA) of the state employees and pensioners by 4%.

Earlier, the Bihar teachers recruitment was held at panchayat, block and district levels. Under the new rule, the government will appoint teachers through a Commission.

According to a senior education department official, around 1.5 lakh teachers from primary to senior secondary stages will now be appointed on the basis of the revised guidelines.

Around 9,350 upgraded higher secondary schools in the state are facing an acute shortage of teachers.

“Under the new rule, appointments will not be made on a contractual basis. Those teachers, who have been appointed on contract, can now become regular government teachers after clearing entrance examinations conducted by the Commission,” S Siddharth, Additional Chief Secretary (Cabinet Secretariat), told reporters, the PTI said.

Siddharth said the state Cabinet approved a 4 per cent increase in the DA of the state employees and pensioners. The pensioners and state government employees will now receive 42 per cent DA with effect from January 1, 2023, he said.

“Those who are employed teachers have to pass an exam through BPSC then they also become regular teachers. Around 1.25 lakh teachers will be recruited now and 40-50 thousand will be recruited in third and fourth grade in higher secondary school,” the ANI quoted Bihar education minister Chandrashekhar on new policy for teachers, Patna.

शिक्षक अभ्यर्थियों के लिए खुशखबरी है।

आज कैबिनेट मीटिंग में बिहार राज्य विद्यालय अध्यापक (नियुक्ति,स्थानांतरण, अनुशासनिक कार्रवाई) सेवा शर्त नियमावली 2023 को स्वीकृति दी गई है।

नए फैसले के अनुसार अब शिक्षक राज्य कर्मी होंगे। अब आयोग के माध्यम से लाखों शिक्षकों की बहाली होगी।

— Office of Tejashwi Yadav (@TejashwiOffice) April 10, 2023

Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav tweeted, “According to the new decision, teachers will now be state employees. Now lakhs of teachers will be reinstated through the commission.”

Teachers and activists have been protesting for years over the massive delays in the Bihar teacher recruitment process.