Chandrababu Naidu’s gesture brings ‘mega’ joy to aspiring teachers in Andhra Pradesh

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu fulfills promise, announces DSC notification to fill 16,347 teacher posts in State schools.

The long wait for the elusive ‘mega DSC’ promised to youth aspiring for teacher jobs in State-run schools ended on June 13 (Thursday), with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu deciding that his first act as Chief Minister would be to append his signature on the file announcing a DSC notification to fill 16,347 teacher posts.

Thousands of unemployed youth aspiring for teacher posts in government schools erupted in joy, as the government set the ball rolling for recruitment of 16,347 teacher posts in the State with Secondary Grade Teachers (SGTs), Trained Graduate Teachers (TGTs), Post Graduate Teachers (PGTs) and School Assistants.

A DSC notification was issued for recruitment of 7,000 teachers during Mr. Naidu’s last tenure as Chief Minister. YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who was then the Leader of the Opposition, had mocked the State government, saying such a small number of recruitments was nothing but eyewash as there were 24,000 vacant teacher posts in the State. Mr. Jagan had promised to release a mega DSC and fill all the vacant posts if he were voted to power.

The YSRCP did register a thumping win, but the Jagan government was unable to release a DSC notification, incurring the wrath of the unemployed youth. However, towards the end of his tenure, just before the elections, his government released a notification to fill 6,100 teacher posts, much to the chagrin of the stakeholders. The Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) was conducted but the results were withheld, owing to the election code and the proposed DSC exam, the notification for which was issued, was also not held.

The teacher unions have been demanding repeal of GO 117 through which the YSRCP government implemented a merger of Classes III to V in primary schools with high schools. This resulted in a sharp fall in the number of schools and teacher posts. The unions said that as per the reports submitted by the officials of the Education Department, there were around 36,000 vacant teacher posts in the State, but the number drastically fell after the schools were merged. The government was also blamed for depriving underprivileged children access to education through its merger policy.

Mr. Naidu, then in the opposition, had promised to look into their grievances.

AP Unemployed JAC’s State convenor Shaik Siddik, met the Chief Minister on Thursday and expressed gratitude to him for addressing the grievances of the unemployed youth in the State. AP Unemployed Youth JAC State president S. Hemanth Kumar thanked Mr. Naidu and JSP president Pawan Kalyan for recognising the urgency of the matter and doing the needful to mitigate their woes.