Cabinet has overlooked the Finance Department advice to conduct a district-wise education survey t
Picture used for representational purpose. (Photo: DC/File)
Thiruvananthapuram: The UDF Government can pat itself on the back for resolving the Plus2 school/batch allotment logjam but it already incurs Rs 750 crore a year in salaries to 25,000-odd ‘protected’ teachers, mostly those rendered surplus in Government-aided private schools since 1996.
These teachers comprise a teachers’ bank created through a teachers’ package by an order of the Education Department in 2011. The Cabinet’s latest Plus2 decision entails an additional annual outgo of Rs 500 crore.
In doing this, the Cabinet has overlooked the Finance Department advice to conduct a district-wise education survey to identify areas requiring new schools and batches because already 85,000 Plus 1 vacancies were available, in excess of demand, across the State. The Department pointed out that each additional batch would entail an annual outgo Rs 70 lakh.
Another 3,500 schools with less than 50 students each bleeds the exchequer to the tune of '500 crore yearly. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said at the weekly briefing on Wednesday that next week’s Cabinet might review this situation but coalition compulsions point to the contrary.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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