In a significant decision, the Bihar Cabinet on December 26 granted the status of State employees to four lakh contractual teachers. To secure their position, the contractual teachers are required to pass an examination.
A total of 29 agendas were approved in the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
After the Cabinet meeting, Additional Chief Secretary (Cabinet Secretariat) S. Siddharth said the Bihar School Exclusive Teacher Rules, 2023 had been approved, which granted the status of government employees to all teachers working in panchayat, zila parishad, panchayat samiti, and municipal schools. He also said that all teachers at different schools in the State would be considered “exclusive teachers with government employee status”.
“The teachers have to clear a competency exam, after which they will be given the pay scale set of Bihar Public Service Commission. They would be given three attempts to clear the exam, and if someone fails even in three attempts, or deliberately does not take the exam, then a separate decision will be taken about them,” Mr. Siddharth said.
In 2003, the Bihar government appointed ‘Shiksha Mitras’ in government schools to provide employment opportunities to unemployed youth in rural areas and solve the problem of shortage of teachers in government schools. The teachers were hired at the time on an 11-month contract on the basis of marks they had obtained in Classes 10 and 12. They were given a salary of ₹1,500 per month. Over the years, the duration of the contract and the salary Shiksha Mitras received kept increasing.
Currently, primary school (Classes 1 to 5) teachers receive ₹22,000 to ₹25,000 per month; secondary school (Classes 6 to 10) teachers receive ₹22,000 to ₹29,000 per month; and high secondary school (Classes 11 and 12) teachers receive ₹22,000 to ₹30,000.
They will now be eligible to revisable dearness, housing, medical, and transport allowances, apart from salaries of ₹25,000 (Classes 1 to 5), ₹28,000 (Classes 6 to 8), ₹31,000 (Classes 9 and 10), and ₹32,000 (Classes 11 and 12), respectively, and promotions following eight years of service.
