The National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS) has now invited online applications to recruit for over 4,000 positions (teaching and non-teaching) across the 401 functioning Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) for tribal students. The NESTS said that applications for the EMRS Staff Selection Examination (ESSE), 2023 will close on July 31.
The NESTS, which is the administrating body for the EMRSs, has notified that of these vacancies, 303 were for the post of Principal in these residential schools, 2,266 were for the post of Post-Graduate Teacher, and the rest were for the posts of Junior Secretariat Assistants, Lab Attendants, and Accountants.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in this year’s Budget speech that the Union government had allowed for the direct recruitment of EMRS staff through the NESTS, which was a body functioning under the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs — recruitment that was till last year entrusted to the State administrative bodies of the schools.
Ms. Sitharaman had said that this would allow the Centre to recruit the required number of 38,800 teaching and non-teaching staff over the next few years for the planned 750 EMRSs across the country. Of the planned schools, currently around 690 have been sanctioned and 401 are functional.
Age relaxation
In the information bulletin made public on the EMRS website, the NESTS has prescribed the format for ESSE-2023; the eligibility criteria for each post; and the guidelines that will govern the recruitment process. The NESTS has maintained that the reservation policy of the Government of India for direct recruitment on an all-India basis will be applicable for these posts — allowing for reservation to SC/ST/OBC/EWS categories.
The NESTS also said, “NESTS reserves the right to fill or not to fill or partially fill any of the above vacancies without assigning any reasons whatsoever. NESTS also reserves the right to cancel/ restrict / modify/ alter the recruitment process, if required, without giving any further notice or assigning any reasons thereof.”
With the EMRS scheme providing for admission of girl students to the extent of at least 50% of the school’s strength, the recruitment guidelines also allow the NESTS Commissioner to hire up to 50% women for the position of Trained Graduate Teachers “in order to effectively manage the residential custodial requirements of girl students”.
In addition, the NESTS has said that to facilitate the hiring of more women candidates for the posts of PGTs, TGTs and Miscellaneous Category Teacher Posts, an age relaxation of 10 years would be given. Furthermore, the recruitment guidelines have an age relaxation for permanent staffers already working at the EMRSs.
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The NESTS added that the date for downloading admit cards and for the examination would be notified on their website. The examination woud be conducted at centres to be notified in each State and Union Territory.
Currently, around 4,000 teaching and non-teaching staff already work at the functioning EMRS schools, which is well below the prescribed staff requirement as per the 2020 guidelines issued by NESTS. However, most of the staffers are either contractual or on deputation from the concerned State government and are at risk of losing their positions once the new recruitment begins.
Officials have maintained that these teachers, if eligible, can also apply for the vacant positions and that such teachers, who were working at the EMRS as of January 1, 2023, would also get the same age relaxation as that of EMRS employees.
