Representational imageAfter the CM, the education minister receives the maximum number of visitors on any day. This shows the sheer extent of problems with this portfolio.
There are many issues that could be presented to the new minister. University issues, textbook irregularities, school-level problems etc are only some of the many problems that the education minister would have to face. However, the biggest headache among them for the new minister would be uncertainties surrounding schools that are not profitable.
When a school becomes a drain on resources, many managers would be inclined to close them down or use the facilities for other purposes. It is not practical for the government to take over such schools because of the costs involved. While students in such schools can easily secure admissions in nearby government schools, the future of the teachers are often left to chance. The government cannot discard the responsibility of taking care of such teachers.
Many governments in the past have tried for solutions to this problem. For example, during the Nayannar government’s tenure, minister Baby John had started many aided schools and the condition put to managements was that they would employ at least one teacher who had lost his/her jobs due to shutting down of non-profitable schools. While the managers first agreed to this, they later took the legal route to circumvent the agreement.
Later, Oommen Chandy introduced his government’s teachers' package. As per that proposal, such teachers were to be given regular salaries and posted for leave vacancies. However, that effort too failed.
Currently, the closure threat has been affecting lower and upper primary schools but soon it would extend to high schools and colleges.
Such teachers may be appointed to government schools. At government schools, appointments are made by the PSC. Therefore teachers' unions might object to such appointments of teachers who were appointed by school managers. On the other hand, managers oppose appointment of such teachers to management schools because that would infringe on their constitutional rights.
The government may not be able to appoint them to other positions because appointments to all government positions are managed by the Services Commission. Teachers might also become misfits for other jobs that do not require teaching skills.
All these issues were discussed during the past ten years and we need some other viable solution. The best path ahead is to find a solution taking into consideration the opinions of all concerned.
(The author is a former joint director, department of education. The views are personal.)
