Bihar Govt ordered to appoint 35,540 teachers

The Supreme Court Wednesday ordered the Bihar government to appoint 35,540 primary school teachers as per their seniority based on the year they secured their Bachelor of Education or Bachelor in Teaching degrees.

A bench of Justice Altmas Kabir and Justice H.L. Dattu gave the order on a joint lawsuit by thousands of professionally qualified teachers of Bihar, who sought contempt to court proceedings against the state government for not keeping its word given to the apex court in 2007 for appointing them.

The bench asked the government to appoint all the teachers on the basis of their seniority and without taking any examination.

The legal tangle of trained teachers’ appointment dates back to December 2003, when Bihar’s erstwhile Rabri Devi government had advertised vacancies of 35,540 primary teachers in government schools and had proceeded to appoint people who had passed matriculation or higher examinations.

This was challenged by the professionally qualified teachers of Bihar before the Patna High Court. They contended the move would curtail their right to be appointed as primary teachers. They also contended it would violate an earlier apex court ruling, which held that only professionally qualified teachers could be given the teaching job. Read More>>

Do not close schools not using Kannada as medium of instruction: SC to Karnataka

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Karnataka government should not force Kannada as the medium of instruction in primary classes and directed it not to close any private school which decided to go against the state policy by imparting education through English medium.

Refusing to stay last year’s high court judgment allowing private schools to choose the medium of instruction, a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan said: “The government shall not pass any closure orders against unrecognised schools.”

It, however, gave relief to the state, which is yet to implement the HC order, by staying the contempt proceedings initiated by the HC against the chief secretary and officials of the education department.

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SC’s language lesson to schools: Teach in English

The Supreme Court on Tuesday frowned upon the imposition of mother-tongue as a compulsory medium of instruction in educational institutions and warned it could go against the interests of students struggling in the competitive world dominated by English language.

A three judge bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan observed if states try to impose their mother-tongue on unwilling students, it could turn counter-productive and make them ineligible even for clerical jobs.

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