Functioning of 14 District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) in Kerala is likely to go haywire from Monday with the government ordering around 80 lecturers on deputation there to be sent back to their parent institutions.
This is based on an order of the Director, General Education, issued on November 18. The highest number of such lecturers are in Malappuram and Kozhikode, nine each. Kannur and Kasaragod have seven each.
DIETs offer a two-year diploma course in elementary education (D.El.Ed) to train teachers for taking up jobs in lower primary and upper primary schools, apart from overseeing the planning, research and implementation of educational programmes in the State. Close to 1,500 students are pursuing the course in these institutes spread across 14 districts. With a majority of the lecturers on deputation being relieved of their duties, the DIETs will be left with only a couple of senior lecturers and the principals, who will have to teach the students, assist in question paper preparation, and involve in training activities by Education department agencies.
One of the lecturers, who wished not to be quoted, told The Hindu on Sunday that 143 teachers working in government primary schools, high schools, and higher secondary schools were deputed to the DIETs in 2018. They were chosen after inviting applications and following due process. Of them, 78 are remaining in service now, with the rest either getting promoted to other posts or joining other sections or institutions.
The appointment was under Rule 144 of Part 1, Kerala Service Rules, for a year or till regular appointments were made as per Special Rules. In 2020, the order of appointment was made under Rule 9(B) of the Kerala State and Subordinate Service Rules (KSSR). Similar appointments had earlier been made under Rule 9 a(i) of the KSSR during various periods, he pointed out, as regular recruitments were yet to be made.
In 2021, the government issued Special Rules for appointing teachers to DIETs. Invoking Rule 9(1) of the Special Rules, the services of 75 lecturers, 70 senior lecturers, and seven principals who were earlier appointed on temporary basis were also regularised. The lecturers appointed in 2018, subsequently approached the Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT), staking a claim for regularisation of their services too. Though the KAT directed the government to consider the demand, this was challenged in the Kerala High Court by a group of people who have applied for regular appointment to lecturers’ posts. It was also alleged that attempts were being made to appoint activists of a pro-Left teachers’ union, bypassing reservation norms. The court issued an interim order last month not to proceed with the regularisation of services of these lecturers’ on deputation.
