State to reinstate 865 day school teachers for night schools

Mumbai: The state government has decided to reinstate 865 regular teachers for night schools across Mumbai

Mumbai: The state government has decided to reinstate 865 regular teachers for night schools across Mumbai. The decision was taken to tackle a dearth of teachers in night schools. Besides, it has also been decided that the working time of night schools would be reduced by one hour, meaning they will be working for two and half hours instead of three and half hours. School education minister Deepak Kesarkar confirmed the development.

The school education minister also said that they have also decided to reduce the timings of night schools in the interest of students (Kalpesh Nukte/HT Photo)

Maharashtra has around 176 night schools, of which at least 150 are in Mumbai alone. In 2017, the state government prohibited 1,010 day teachers from aided and unaided schools from taking classes at night schools. This led to the discontinuation of service of 865 teachers, whereas 174 surplus teachers from aided schools were adjusted at the night schools.

Following the decision, there was a dearth of teachers in night schools owing to which the purpose of night schools could not be served and many such schools are yet to reopen since the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020.

“We are very positive about night schools. The number of teachers appointed at night schools is not enough. It has been decided to reinstate the teachers from aided and unaided schools to teach at night schools,” Kesarkar told Hindustan Times.

The decisions were taken by the previous MVA government in June but are yet to be implemented. A government resolution to this effect was also issued on June 30, a day after the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray resigned from the position leading to the fall of the MVA government. Notably, the Shinde-Fadnavis government has stayed all the decisions taken in the last few days of the previous government.

“Night school system collapsed due to lack of teachers. You cannot expect 174 teachers to do the work of 1,010 teachers. The decision itself was illogical,” said Kapil Patil, MLA elected from the Konkan teachers’ constituency.