Education Deptt to hire 1500 teachers to tide over shortage in difficult areas

Srinagar: Amidst shortages of teachers, especially in remote areas, the Department of Education in Jammu and Kashmir has launched a short-term recruitment effort.

This initiative aims to swiftly address the gaps and provide essential teaching support to schools facing challenges in various subjects. In an effort to bolster the education for classes 9 to 12 in schools across J&K, the advertisement was floated earlier this week.

Online applications have been invited from post-graduate candidates who are domiciled in J&K.

The roles available are for “Cluster Resource Coordinators for Teaching Support”, who would be stationed in various Government High and Higher Secondary Schools situated in different districts within the Kashmir division.

A notable facet of this hiring initiative, as emphasised by Principal Secretary to the Government for Education, Alok Kumar is that the recruitment would take place entirely on the basis of academic records.

The recruited teachers would be offered one-year contracts, providing aspiring educators with invaluable classroom experience.

Simultaneously, this measure aims to mitigate the shortage of teaching personnel in regions grappling with the scarcity of educators in particular subjects.

Kumar reiterated that the selection process would be totally unbiased.

The conventional interview process would be eschewed in favour of this alternative approach.

“These teachers will help us augment the delivery of education in under-served areas of J&K, and improve the outcomes,” he said.

The application window swung open on August 10, 2023, inviting enthusiastic candidates to submit their applications.

Prospective teachers have until August 20, 2023, to formally apply for these positions.

Successful candidates would be provided a monthly salary of Rs 25,000.

Furthermore, to qualify for consideration, applicants must ensure they are within the stipulated age bracket of 40 years.

The recruitment drive will encompass a diverse range of subjects, with positions available in Botany, Chemistry, Commerce, Economics, Education, Environmental Science, English, Geography, Hindi, History, Kashmiri, Mathematics, Physics, Political Science, Sociology, Statistics, Urdu, and Zoology.

A senior official in the government said that while there were adequate and sometimes surplus teachers in most of the Zone I and Zone II schools, Zone III, IV and V reel under shortage of teachers.

He said some subjects had a gross shortage and it was difficult to find specific subject teachers in the entire district.

The senior official said that in many districts, posts had been sanctioned but had not been filled yet.

He said that this hampers the learning process and outcomes for students, more so in the crucial years from class 8 onwards.