The Kerala government on Wednesday announced that it will regularise as many as 20,000 teachers working in aided schools. The decision will be subject to the final outcome of cases pending before the Supreme Court.
Addressing mediapersons here, General Education Minister V Sivankutty said the move aims at resolving long-pending legal issues. These relate to the implementation of reservation for differently-abled persons and the approval of teacher appointments in aided schools across the state.
The announcement came weeks after the minister told the Assembly that the LDF government was taking all possible legal steps. He had said the recent Supreme Court order on general category teacher appointments in NSS schools should be extended to all aided school managements.
The Left government’s decision has political significance in poll-bound Kerala. The issue had triggered protests by several aided school managements, including Christian organisations. They had accused the government of blocking general category appointments in the name of implementing court orders.
Sivankutty said the matter concerns the implementation of four per cent reservation for persons with disabilities in aided schools, as required under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2017. Earlier, a three per cent quota was provided under the 1996 law.
He said delays in implementing this quota in aided schools had led to several legal disputes. A single bench of the High Court had ordered that the reservation be implemented retrospectively from 1996. The government argued that this would negatively affect thousands of existing teachers and later filed an appeal.
After the division bench verdict, teachers appointed after 2021 were allegedly reduced to daily-wage status, the minister added. However, in a case filed by the Nair Service Society (NSS), the Supreme Court allowed approval of general category appointments, except for posts reserved for differently-abled candidates.
The minister said the state filed an affidavit before the Apex Court seeking to extend the benefit given to NSS schools to other similarly placed aided school managements. However, the matter has now been postponed to April, he said.
Based on fresh legal advice from senior counsel appearing for the state, the government has decided to issue orders to regularise teachers working under other managements as well. This will be subject to the final outcome of the Special Leave Petitions pending before the Supreme Court.
However, the regularisation of 442 teachers who have individually approached the Apex Court challenging the earlier proposal will remain on hold until the final decision. He said moving ahead without the court’s approval could amount to contempt.
"The benefit of this decision will extend to around 20,000 teachers in aided schools across the state. They will be granted all service benefits from the date of their appointment," the minister said. He also directed the authorities concerned to complete the approval process within two weeks.
After the favourable Supreme Court order secured by the NSS, other school managements demanded similar relief. The Apex Court had earlier ordered the state to complete appointments to posts reserved for differently-abled candidates within a fixed time frame.
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