Government colleges to re-employ retired teachers

MADURAI/CHENNAI: In a move to fill vacancies in government arts and science colleges, the State government has come out with a scheme to re-employ retired faculty. The process is under way and 300 orders have gone out so far.
It is purely a stopgap, until those selected by the TRB [Teachers Recruitment Board] are appointed,” Director of Collegiate Education Nalini Ravindran has told The Hindu.
There are nearly 900 vacancies in government colleges, according to Higher Education Department officials. A government order laying out norms for the re-employment scheme was issued early in the month and those who had retired from government colleges and were still under 62 years of age could apply.
The appointees will be paid their last drawn salary minus the pension they are entitled for, says Ms. Ravindran.
Senior officials at the regional offices say nearly 500 letters of willingness have been received for various subjects. While applicants can express their preferences, they will not necessarily be appointed in the same college from where they retired.
About 50 retired teachers have been appointed to four government colleges in Chennai. The appointments depend on the recommendation of the principal. “If the work load warrants and they want to get some of their retired faculty”, they can do so, says an official. The first batch of these teachers started taking classes last week.
The 10 retired faculty joining the English, Tamil, History, Zoology and Geography departments at Bharathi Women’s College will make a difference to teaching schedules this year. “This is really useful. We were very short of staff,” says principal Chandra Shanthakumar.
Colleges will gain from the rich experience of these appointees, with two former principals having been appointed at the Quaid-e-Millath Govt Arts College for Women.
Most of the appointees are from the city colleges themselves, but their number has been boosted with retired staff of Presidency College and Queen Mary’s College, which are not eligible for this scheme since they are being converted into universities. With about 50 and 35 vacancies respectively (there are seven vacancies in Queen Mary’s English department alone), these two government institutions will have to wait for the TRB appointees.
In the Madurai region, the teachers joined duty on Monday. “We have released the first list of 45 retired teachers for government colleges in Madurai Region, which covers six southern districts,” says an official. The second list will be released in a few days.
Nine teachers of Mathematics, English, Geography, Hindi, Chemistry and Zoology were appointed to the Sri Meenakshi Government Arts College for Women in Madurai.
The of re-employment will help colleges where a large number of vacancies exist, says principal Nirmala Devaraj. Criticism
However, the scheme has received criticism from a section of those who lead agitations on teachers’ issues.
“By re-employing the retired staff, we are depriving opportunities for youngsters and it is against social justice when so many staff on consolidated pay are being ‘exploited’ in private colleges. So, the State government must try to fill the vacancies through proper recruitment process,” demands a retired professor of a government college.
Teachers’ body MUTA also has appealed to the Minister for Higher Education to make recruitments on ‘timescale’ as full-time teachers.