The Punjab government has decided to seek the opinion of the state Advocate-General on recruitment of teachers from their respective districts in the border cadre, which was cleared today by the state cabinet.During Thursday’s cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder, the cabinet decided to create a separate cadre of teachers for the six border districts of Pathankot, Amritsar, Fazilka, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Gurdaspur. While some of the ministers suggested that border cadre teachers be recruited from the same districts, the Chief Minister advised that the matter be put up to the AG for his opinion.The meeting also decided to set up a cabinet sub-committee to oversee the implementation of Right to Education (RTE) and to examine the suggestions of the Education Department on revamping the education system in government schools. The cabinet took serious note of the fact that private schools continued to deprive poor students of admission despite reservations for them under RTE.
The sub-committee, comprising Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, Higher Education Minister Aruna Chaudhary, Rural Development Minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, will submit its report within 15 days, an official spokesperson disclosed after the cabinet meeting.
The cabinet also informally discussed the Education Department’s proposal to formulate a policy for rationalization of the teacher-student ratio to make it more balanced, as also suggested by the central government. The department was asked by the cabinet to present a formal proposal in this regard in the next meeting.Earlier, the cabinet, which approved 19 Draft Service Rules for various cadres in the School Education Department, discussed the need for special cadre for the border districts. It was decided that the employees appointed in the border cadre would have their separate promotion channels.The new rules, necessitated by the old ones becoming outdated and irrelevant in the changing environment, also provide for special incentives such as additional HRA and one additional increment at every level in the border cadre.Under the old rules, the service conditions of non-teaching staff were governed by the Rules framed in the year of 1941, while those of Headmasters, Lecturers, Masters and Classical and Vernacular Teachers were governed by the Rules framed in 1955 and 1978. Several court judgements have since underlined the need to change in the selection process. Taking guidance from these judgements, and in order to recruit the best personnel in different services, a new set of qualifications has been proposed in the various sets of draft rules which the cabinet has approved.