Assam Government to hire guest teachers to overcome teacher shortfall issue

To solve the issue of teacher shortfall across educational institutions in Assam, the state government is considering hiring guest teachers in its schools for the first time, according to State Education Minister Ranoj Pegu. According to him, there are now over 8,000 unfilled teaching vacancies in the state, many of which are exclusively accessible to Scheduled Tribe (Hills) applicants.

The idea to engage guest teachers has already been approved by the state cabinet, and the education department has begun the preparatory processes to hire them at certain schools until permanent faculty members are appointed. Initially, the government intends to execute the notion by establishing alumni groups in institutions.

These alumni groups will be critical to the quality of education in schools. "They will strive to acquire guest professors until permanent ones are chosen so that students do not suffer,” said Education Minister Ranoj Pegu while talking to the media. He further stated that if alumni groups are unable to find qualified instructors, the government will hire retired teachers.

Over 2.4 lakh teachers are working in the state's 45,000 elementary and 4,300 secondary schools. The state cabinet-approved online application site will be utilized shortly to resume teacher transfers, which had been halted for nearly three years.

In the elementary and secondary levels, there are 4,000 vacancies each. The government recently appointed 11,000 teachers. A considerable number of vacant posts are reserved for the ST-Hills category. The government will fill the 8,000 vacancies before the end of the financial year.