In a major decision, the Bihar government has granted over four lakh contractual teachers the status of state government employees, fulfilling their long-standing demand.
Post this development, over 4 lakh contractual teachers will now be known as Assistant Teachers in the schools. Earlier, they were known as Shiksha Mitra.
"After being notified by the state government, these contractual teachers will be regarded as 'exclusive teachers' with the status of government employees. The education department proposed this idea and it has been approved", S Siddharth, additional chief secretary (cabinet secretariat), told reporters.
"Contractual teachers will be granted the status of government employees under the new rule which will be known as the ‘Bihar School Exclusive Teachers Rules, 2023", he said.
Teachers will have to pass competency exams
The teachers will have to pass competency exams in order to maintain their status as government employees, the official added. The decision was taken after a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The Bihar government, which was facing the scarcity of teachers in schools, had hired Shiksha Mitras in 2003 during the Rabri Devi government. At that time, they were given a stipend of Rs 1,500 per month.
However, the stipends got higher and they were now getting Rs 22,000 per month. Now, they become the state employees, the teachers of primary school will get Rs 25,000 apart from TA, DA, and other allowances, while Class 11 and 12 teachers will get Rs 31,000 apart from other allowances.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said, "We want to give respect to people as much as possible. On teachers and quality of education, we have always had key focus... today such a big decision was taken, around 4.5 lakhs employed teachers were given state employees... one by one we are completing all the promises that we had given".
Ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi says he took this decision earlier but Nitish Kumar cancelled it
Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi claimed that the decision to confer Shiksha Mitra state employees' status was taken during his tenure.
"(Chief Minister) Nitish Kumar is unnecessarily taking credit for making Shiksha Mitra state employees. I had made the decision to make them state employees during my tenure. When Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister again, he cancelled the decision and said that it was wrong," he claimed.
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