4,860 sports teacher posts left out of state’s teacher recruitment drive

The decision has upset candidates with a degree in physical education (BPEd) who have been waiting for the recruitment process

MUMBAI: While the Maharashtra government has launched a recruitment drive to hire over 30,000 teachers, 4,860 posts of sports teachers have been left out of the process. The posts were sanctioned by the government, but they have not been listed on its Pavitra Portal through which teachers are hired.

Currently, several schools in urban and rural areas do not have full-time physical education teachers. (Pic for representation)

The decision has upset candidates with a degree in physical education (BPEd) who have been waiting for the recruitment process. The last major recruitment for these posts was conducted in 2014. In April this year, BPEd-qualified candidates had even held a protest at Azad Maidan in Mumbai, demanding that the current vacancies be filled.

The 4,860 vacant sports teacher posts were sanctioned through a Government Resolution issued by the school education department on January 2. The plan was to appoint one physical education teacher in each of the 4,860 cluster schools under the zilla parishads.

Currently, several schools in urban and rural areas do not have full-time physical education teachers. In some schools, sports education is managed by contractual workers who are paid around ₹150 per day. Teachers’ organisations said this could affect the quality of sports education provided to students.

“We expected the 4,860 sports teacher posts to be included on the Pavitra Portal, but they weren’t,” said MYSSM secretary Tayappa Shendge. “We are again requesting the government to allot proper positions to sports teachers and add these posts to the portal.”

Shendge added that the 4,860 posts were meant for primary schools, and the government still had to finalise the posts for physical education teachers in secondary schools.

Meanwhile, the school education department has extended the deadline for applications on the Pavitra Portal from August 11 to August 13. Candidates had complained about problems such as not receiving OTPs, the website crashing and other technical issues. Balusha Mane, chairperson of Shivunity Foundation, an organisation which works with teachers, wrote to the authorities on Saturday about the problems. Following the complaints and the heavy load on the website, the government extended the deadline.