Apex Court figures show Nagaland will need at least 273 CWSN teachers
Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 10
The Supreme Court has directed all the States and Union Territories (UTs) to notify the sanctioned posts of teachers for children with special needs (CWSN) and immediately commence the selection procedure for those educators.
Each State and UT shall issue notifications with the number of posts they have sanctioned for teachers who are to impart education to CWSN, stated the order issued by the bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice K Vinod Chandran, hearing a Public Interest Litigation highlighting the lack of special educators for CWSN on March 7.
Earlier in October 2021, the Court had asked the Union to come up with a teacher-pupil ratio in schools with special children.
The March 7 order showed that ratio now given by the Union is "1:10 for primary schools and 1:15 for middle and secondary schools, respectively.
As per the status filed before the Supreme Court, there were 4,084 CWSN in Nagaland.
Thus, as per the Court’s direction, Nagaland would need at least 273 teachers to accommodate all the children, if the overall teacher-pupil ratio is taken as 1:15.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court directed that sanctioning and notification should be done by March 28 and must be advertised in at least two newspapers having wide circulation in the respective States as well as on the website of the Department of Education and the official Government website of each State.
The order also stressed that only qualified, competent, and eligible teachers must be selected and appointed, and the requirement of the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) needs to be taken into account for appointments, as directed earlier by the Court.
Screening of ad hoc teachers
Meanwhile, being informed that in many of the States and UTs, ad hoc teachers on a contractual basis are presently imparting education to CWSN, with some continuing for approximately 20 years, the Bench issued a separate direction.
Among others, it directed all States/UTs to immediately constitute a three-member Screening Committee consisting of the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities; the Secretary of Education of the concerned Education Department; and a nominee of the RCI having knowledge in the prescribed area.
In case of the non-availability of the Disability Commissioner in any State/UT, a Legal Representative (LR) or the Law Secretary of the State concerned can be substituted, it added.
As per the order, the Screening Committee must examine the case of each candidate who has been working on a contract/daily wage basis to teach CWSN, and those found to be competent, eligible, and qualified to teach must be given the pay scale of special teachers.
“The past experience of these teachers shall also be kept in mind. However, the mandatory requirement for each of the candidates would be RCI qualification,” it underscored.
Further, in the case of a person who has already been working and teaching for many years, the Screening Committee shall also be authorised to consider relaxation of the age limit in appropriate cases, it added.
The Supreme Court also directed the completion of all processes within a period of 12 weeks from March 7, inclusive of the three weeks for the sanctioned posts to be identified.
“We make it absolutely clear that the benefits of the pay scale will only be prospective and not retrospective, i.e. from the date of their appointment after selection. They will be appointed against the sanctioned posts and shall be given the pay scale applicable to that post only after screening,” it added.
Meanwhile, some states, including Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Sikkim, stated that there have been some logistical problems regarding the appointment of trained teachers in their states.
Despite these difficulties, the Court has instructed these States to begin the process of appointing teachers. However, this exercise is conditional on the availability of teachers who meet the required qualifications, it added.
Earlier, the Court noted that despite several orders directing compliance with the October 2021 judgment in Rajneesh Kumar Pandey vs Union of India, none of the States have 'made any appointments to the sanctioned posts for Special Teachers.'
The majority of those States have not even identified the sanctioned posts required, it added, issuing the March 7 direction.
