Bihar Education Minister Chandra Shekhar on Wednesday triggered a row by saying that teaching job candidates in the State were not competent to teach subjects such as English, physics, chemistry and mathematics due to which many seats remained vacant. He said that teachers from other States would provide quality education.
The Minister defended the decision of the Nitish Kumar government to remove domicile-based reservation for recruitment of teachers in State government run-schools.
“The decision has been taken to provide quality education. The talented students of the country will take part in it [recruitment exams]…. The decision has been taken so that we can get quality teachers in the schools of Bihar.”
The Bihar Cabinet on Tuesday amended the Bihar State School Teacher (Appointment, Transfer, Disciplinary Proceedings and Service Condition) Rules, 2023. With this, residents of any State can now apply for teachers’ posts in Bihar. The new norms are applicable to the latest notification issued by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) for the recruitment of 1.7 lakh teachers.
The Opposition BJP and teaching job aspirants slammed the statement by the Education Minister.
Abhishek Jha, who cleared the Secondary Teacher Eligibility Test (STET), said, “Bihar has teachers who can teach every subject in the best manner. We have competent teachers for English, physics, chemistry and Mathematics. They are so talented that not only Bihar, they can teach in any State. It is the failure of our government that despite having the degrees aspirants are sitting at home. The Nitish Kumar government must roll back its decision in the next 72 hours or be ready to face consequences.”
Another teacher aspirant Rupesh Kumar said the decision of the government amounted to injustice towards jobs aspirants from the State.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha member and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi termed Mr. Shekhar’s statement an insult to the people of Bihar.
“The Education Minister of Bihar has given a shocking statement and insulted the talent of Bihar. What he is saying is absurd. Does he mean that the teaching of science, mathematics and English should be stopped in hundreds of colleges and schools of Bihar? Without conducting the exam how does he know that Bihar does not have competent teachers? This is an insult to those children who are making Bihar feel proud by becoming the topper in civil services and other competitive exams,” Mr. Modi said.
He said the Bihar government did not want to recruit teachers as it would have to spend an additional amount of ₹11,000 crore towards their salaries. Mr. Modi asked how the government will manage the additional expenditure when it did not have the money to pay the salary of current teachers.