Govt puts cap on duration of teacher deployment in other departments

Srinagar, Jan 18: The School Education Department (SED) has put a cap on the deputation of teachers in other government departments to extend their services in manning non-teaching assignments.

The order in this regard was issued by Principal Secretary SED Bishwajit Kumar Singh on Tuesday.

The move comes after the J&K government ordered for deployment of the teaching staff of the government teachers below the post of lecturers for COVID-19 mitigation duty.

The Principal Secretary SED ordered that no teaching staff should be deployed for more than three months to the election office in the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

“And the deployment will be non-repetitive,” the order said.

It said that the requests were received from various DCs that the services of the teaching staff attached or deployed in the election offices were required for the smooth functioning of election-related activities. The DCs have requested for their continuance with the present assignments so that election-related work may not suffer.

In wake of this, the SED has impressed upon all the HoDs and Chief Education Officers (CEOs) to follow proper guidelines while deploying the teaching staff of SED to other departments for doing essential duties.

“In case of deputation of teaching staff, proposals should be submitted to the Administrative Department strictly in terms of Article 52 of the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services Regulations, 1956, amended from time to time,” the order said.

The department has also instructed the teaching staff of SED who have been deployed or deputed to other departments to join back in their original places of posting.

The order said that the other guidelines issued by the Department of Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction vide Government Order No 91-JK(DMRRR) of 2021 dated December 28, 2021, should also be applicable in these cases.

The Chief Secretary, who is also Chairman State Executive Committee (SEC), earlier ordered that the concerned Deputy Commissioners in consultation with respective Chief Education Officers (CEOs) would issue detailed specific orders under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 for the deployment of School Education Department staff below the rank of lecturer to perform COVID-19 containment.

It was ordered that the deployment should be for three months only and not more than one staff member from a single school should be deployed for the duty.

The government also ordered that the deployment would be of non-repetitive staff members.

The deployment of teachers was ordered after the divisional administration Kashmir and Jammu besides the Deputy Commissioners set up control rooms across J&K for the containment and management of the COVID-19 outbreak in J&K.