UP Schools to re-employ retired teachers as 'Shiksha Sathi'

The move is to overcome the shortage of teachers in schools and improve learning. According to government data, UP schools have 1.26 lakh teacher vacancies and come next to Bihar schools in the number of vacant teaching posts.

The Uttar Pradesh government mulls to re-employ dedicated retired teachers in state-run schools, including Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV). According to this initiative, retired teachers below 70 years of age are eligible to be employed as mentors in schools for one year. The official notification released by the UP government informs that the move is to overcome the shortage of teachers in schools and improve learning.

According to government data, UP schools have 1.26 lakh teacher vacancies and come next to Bihar schools in the number of vacant teaching posts.

State and President's awardees to be preferred

According to a letter by Uttar Pradesh principal secretary, basic education, Deepak Kumar, to district magistrates (DMs) of the state, district-level committees will give preference to retired teachers who are state and President's awardees. The selected candidates will be known as ‘shikashak sathi’ (teacher companion) and renewal of their service will be on the basis of performance. Selected candidates will receive INR 2,500 as “mobility allowance” per month. They will not receive any extra honorarium. DMs have been asked to send the information to the state project office after selecting the candidates within a month.

“It is to inform you that the Vidyanjali programme has been started by the Ministry of Education, Government of India with the objective of promoting the quality of education in government schools. The objective of this scheme is to improve the teaching work in schools with the help of volunteers. In order to provide additional academic support in schools, it has been decided to conduct collaborative supervision of schools through dedicated retired school teachers who will be known as Shikshak Sathi,” reads the letter.

Must have served at least 5 years as assistant teacher or headmaster

The retired teachers must have served at least five years as assistant teachers or headmaster in basic education council-run primary and upper primary schools of Uttar Pradesh. In a statement, basic education secretary, Vijay Kumar Anand, said that the selected candidates will be utilised in schools facing shortage of teachers. The move will also promote mentoring concepts in schools with little expenditure.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Selected candidates will be responsible for ensuring peer learning, making the classroom student-centric and triggering intrinsic motivation.
• Sensitising teachers and students by discussing topics such as gender equality, life skills education, environmental protection, disaster management and child rights.
• Performance will be tracked on the school activities monitoring Prerna App.
• To do online supportive supervision of minimum 30 schools through Prerna App.
• Send the reports of educational activities of schools to district basic shiksha adhikari (BSA) and District Institute for Education and Training (DIET) principal on the twenty-eighth day of every month.
• Send reports of activities planned for the upcoming month.

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