TN: High school headmasters disappointed over promotions as in-charge DEOs

After the appointment of high school headmasters as in-charge district education officers (DEOs) by the Tamil Nadu school education department, the headmasters have expressed their discontentment over it. The department recently filled eight vacant DEO posts with four high school headmasters and one higher secondary headmaster, stated a report in The New Indian Express. 

The members of the Tamil Nadu Higher Secondary Headmasters' Association made a statement that since higher secondary school headmasters are on an equal pay scale with DEOs, it would be more appropriate to appoint them as in-charge DEOs.

The State Legal Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Higher Secondary Headmasters' Association, R Srinivasan, mentioned that the promotions have been unfairly distributed since the introduction of postgraduate and higher secondary headmaster positions in 1978. 

He further added, "While BT assistants are promoted to high school headmasters/DEOs and then to chief education officials, higher secondary headmasters are shifted to parallel posts, as they are on par with DEOs. Out of the 21 DEOs appointed through promotion, only two are higher secondary school headmasters, while the rest are high school headmasters."

The secretary brought forth the discrepancy with the promotion saying that it stunts their ability to bag good opportunities further. He said that they can get up to four promotions while higher secondary headmasters' promotion is limited to mostly one. "As a result, those below our cadre quickly climb up the ladder and become our superiors. Now, the department has also provided in-charge positions to them, which is unfair."

The issue of promotions within the school education department has been ongoing for a long time and the appointment of officials in-charge was only done for administrative convenience.