Teacher trials: 25 years of toil and tears Premium

After 25 yrs, 4,072 DSC-1998 candidates in A.P. finally secure teacher posts, but 2,326 from SC/ST & BC backgrounds remain jobless. Despite protests & legal challenges, govt. prioritizes merit over reservation, sparking outcry. Candidates recount hardships & hope for pension.

It was a bittersweet experience for Annam Jayalakshmi when she received the appointment order for the coveted position of a Secondary Grade Teacher (SGT) in Pedaprolu Mandal Parishad School under Mopidevi mandal in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh only 19 days before her retirement.

“I felt a sense of pointlessness. It came too late to be useful to me,” Jayalakshmi recounts. She joined her new role on April 14 when the clock was already ticking towards her last working day — April 30.

Jayalakshmi is one of the 4,072 qualified job-seekers from the District Selection Committee (DSC)-1998 batch in A.P. who finally secured teacher posts this April after a gruelling 25-year battle. Over the years, some of the candidates have passed away or retired. However, most faced untold hardships during this period, amplifying their desperation for a resolution that eluded them.

The issue dates back to 1998 when the then government of A.P. announced a notification for approximately 35,000 teacher posts to fill SGT vacancies, triggering a saga of recruitment delays and legal challenges.

In September last year, the Commissioner of School Education requested the approval of the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government to appoint 4,534 teachers on a ‘Minimum Time Scale’ (contract) basis. At that time, however, only 3,620 vacancies were available for the DSC-1998 candidates, leaving 914 candidates to seek employment in other educational institutions across various government departments until positions became available in the School Education Department.

While the government approved the proposal, it said the appointment of DSC-1998 candidates was a unique case based on “exceptional circumstances” and “given on humanitarian grounds” and should not be seen as a precedent.

This development initially brought hope to the candidates, but of the 6,754 candidates who underwent the recruitment process, including certificate verification, appointment letters were given to only 4,072, primarily from the Open Category (general). As a result, 2,326 candidates from Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) and Backward Classes (BC) backgrounds were left high and dry. The department’s decision to prioritise merit over reservation for filling teacher vacancies sparked public outcry.