Appoint Class IV employees on contractual basis: Maharashtra Edu dept to schools

The appointed staff will only be contractual employees of the school instead of being permanent staff of the government.

The Maharashtra education department has asked schools in the state to make all the upcoming appointments of Class IV employees on contractual basis.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. (HT PHOTO)

In a circular issued on Friday, the department stated that once the current staffers on these posts retire, new appointments should be made by the school on contractual basis. Employees under Class IV include peons, cleaning staff, security guards, laboratory attendants etc.

While appointments to these posts were conducted by the government so far, henceforth schools will have to complete them at their level. The appointed staff will only be contractual employees of the school instead of being permanent staff of the government.

The government shall give a fixed allowance to schools for every vacant post depending on the school’s location and the cost structure drawn out by the government.

For cities such as Mumbai and Pune, the allowance will be ₹10,000 per month for each post whereas for schools in other corporations, it would be ₹7,500 per month. For schools in the rural areas, a monthly allowance of ₹5,000 has been set.

Prashant Redij, spokesperson of the Mumbai Principals Association, said the government’s decision was shocking and unacceptable. “The allowance given by the government will be really less (than required) and we are worried that schools will not get good people to work with no job security and such little money. We urge the government to rethink its decision,” he added.

Schools said that the government’s recent guideline allowing only two peons per 500 students was also unjust. “Schools are already short-staffed as teachers and non-teaching staff are not recruited despite vacancies. And to add to this, the government has now curtailed appointments in Class IV jobs,” said the principal of a school in the western suburbs.

Officials from the education department did not respond to calls and messages.