The Kerala Cabinet on Wednesday sanctioned 957 additional posts in 513 government schools and 1,368 additional posts in 699 aided schools as per the staff fixation conducted in the 2023-24 academic year.
Cumulatively, additional 2,325 teaching and non-teaching posts will be sanctioned in 1,212 schools. This would create an additional financial burden of โน8.47 crore every month. The decision would come into effect with retrospective effect from October 2023.
Staff fixation is to be completed by July 15 every academic year. It is this process that had been delayed by more than a year. In 2022-23, staff fixation had been held at the fag end of the academic year. In 2023-24, even that could not be done.
The staff fixation is done on the basis of the sixth-day student headcount in schools at the start of the academic year. In 2023-24, an increase in posts was reported on the basis of student strength rise in some schools. Simultaneously, there was loss of posts owing to inadequate student strength- that is the minimum student count needed to maintain those divisions. Retirements vacancies also arose.
It is this difference in posts that has been given approval by the Cabinet now.
Though this increases the possibility of Kerala Public Service Commission rank-holders getting appointments to the posts created in the government sector, particularly in the primary section, there is also concern that all these 2,325 teaching and non-teaching posts may not be reported by the General Education department this year. The posts that will come into effect will be fewer, teachersโ outfits said.
They pointed out that this was the time for staff fixation for this academic year to be announced. This will ensure that permanent teachers can be posted once the vacant posts are reported by the department, instead of guest teachers on daily wages if there is any delay.
Also, the likelihood of redeployment of government teachers who had lost their posts owing to division fall this year to these new posts is high.
This academic year too, loss of nearly 5,000 posts is expected following a drop in student strength by around a lakh. At the same time, new divisions will be created owing to increase in students and more posts will be created. This again will mean that fewer posts will come into effect this year.
Any delay in staff fixation will also mean that candidates on the Kerala Public Service Commission rank-list will likely get appointments only next year.
The teachersโ organisations are not optimistic that the staff fixation will be completed in a time-bound manner this year.
