Teachers in government-aided schools have urged Government of Tamil Nadu to drop any move to transfer around 8,000 teachers, who were identified as teachers in excess of the stipulated student-teacher ratio.
The school education department on June 29 released a Government Order (GO) stating that the surplus teachers should be appointed to other aided schools that have vacancies.
However, the teachers say the government did not consider the entire number of English medium students in these schools while identifying surplus teachers.
If this detail is also factored in, the surplus teachers will fall by 90%, they said. Around 80,000 teachers work in 8,400 aided schools that cater to over 25 lakh students in the state.
In 2018, the aided schools were allowed to convert 50% of student strength in each section to English medium. In case of high demand, the schools could have a higher percentage of English medium students, but the state government would provide resources for students only till the 50% mark.
Hence, the teachers catering to the English medium students above the fixed cut-off, are also considered as surplus teachers by the government.
More and more parents have been inclined to admit their wards to English medium schools, and so the number of English medium sections has been on the rise in recent years.
Other factors that contributed to the high number of 'surplus' teachers in aided schools are the increase in student-teacher ratio student-teacher ratio from 20:1 to 30-40:1, and the decrease in student enrollment because the government is yet to extend schemes like Chief Minister's Breakfast Scheme, 7.5% reservation, and the Tamil Puthalvan scheme to all aided schools.
Representing the Tamil Nadu Aided Schools Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff Federation, T Kanagaraj said the main reason behind the government identifying as many as 8,000 teachers as surplus, is the partial consideration of English medium students during staff fixation.
"We demand the government to consider the entire English medium student strength while deploying teachers. This would reduce the surplus teachers' figure by 90%," he said.
The surplus number is particularly high in Kanniyakumari district, where English medium students constitute the majority in all aided schools. "In this district alone, there are 624 surplus teachers in high and higher secondary schools. This number would be reduced by more than half if the entire strength of English medium students is considered. The remaining teachers could then be deployed to aided schools that have vacancies. If this adjustment is not made, aided schools will be forced to hire additional teachers independently, increasing the cost of education for students," said R Ajin, Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Postgraduate Teachers Association.
