After having announced that it would teach Bhagwad Gita and English language in schools in the State as new subjects, the Gujarat Government has admitted that there are as many as 28,212 vacant posts of teachers and principals in government and semi-government primary, secondary and higher secondary schools in the State.
Replying to a series of questions by Congress MLAs in the State Asssembly on Tuesday, State Education Minister Jitubhai Vaghani informed that there were 16,318 vacant posts of primary teachers in government primary schools, 1,028 vacant posts of principals in secondary schools, 730 of secondary teachers and 756 vacancies of higher secondary teachers.
There are 2,547 vacancies of secondary teachers, 3,498 of higher secondary teachers, and 1,775 of principals in Grant-in-aid secondary and higher secondary schools.
Lakhs of rural children, who have already been adversely hit during the last two years of the Covid-19 crisis with poor internet access, continue to suffer because of these vacancies, the Congress legislators pointed out.
Kutch district among all 33 in Gujarat has the highest number of vacancies of 1,436 primary teachers, followed by 1,088 in the tribal district of Dahod and 977 in Banaskantha. Mahisagar district has 102 vacancies of principals, Dahod has 222 and Kutch district has 79 vacancies in primary schools.
On the other hand, the candidates who have passed the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET), are agitating for recruitment by the State Government. Meanwhile, experts are already asking the government where will they get teachers to teach Bhagwad Gita and English in as many as 37,000 government schools in Gujarat
