The persistent teacher vacancies in government schools have been noticed in all databases and studies across the country. In the last academic year, 19% of secondary and higher secondary schools did not have a single mathematics teacher. Eighteen per cent secondary schools and 13% higher secondary schools did not have a single science teacher (UDISE data). What is perhaps less known is that regular principal and vice principal vacancies are equally, if not more deficient.

However, teacher recruitment for government schools is often mired in delays, corruption, controversies, and court cases. We have had a Chief Minister in jail, a Minister behind bars, and many other criminal cases relating to teacher recruitment across States. Furthermore, cases holding back regular recruitment, non-availability of trained science and mathematics teachers, delayed and often controversial teacher recruitments, are other instances of the kinds of issues plaguing the recruitment of schoolteachers. Similarly, timely appointment of principals and vice principals suffers from procedures that are cumbersome and time-consuming, leading to vacancy that could last years. Given the very critical role played by well-qualified teachers and effective school leadership, this subject needs the close attention of government and policymakers.

Once the vacancies are finalised, a laborious process of hiring ensues that involves advertising the vacancies, inviting and scrutinising applications, and preparing a merit list – tasks the Subordinate Selection Commissions/Public Service Commissions are given in many states – before final selection lists are prepared. Given the unsatisfactory quality of pre-service teacher education, as documented by the Justice J.S. Verma Committee (2012), certification of training is no guarantee of quality. The Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009 provided for Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) to ensure quality. The low pass percentage in TET confirms the mediocrity in pre-service teacher education programmes. The TET safeguard has meant that the quality of fresh teacher recruits has improved. It was a step in the right direction.

As a result, the whole process takes years, by which time more teachers retire. In effect, this means that not only is a new teacher made available to the system many months, often years after a vacancy has been requisitioned by a school, but even then, may not meet the requirements of the school as more vacancies are created in the time taken to make the initial appointment(s). govThis is the saga of teacher recruitment across many states. It is not a regular annual feature (which it should be) in most states. Moreover, any mistake in any part of the process, such as roster clearance, could lead to a court case.

The position of Postgraduate Trained (PGT) teachers for science and mathematics subjects faces a different difficulty as these are instances when the number of qualified applicants is lower than the vacancies in many states.

However, Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVS) and Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVS) are authorised to make ad hoc, but trained teacher appointments for the interim period before the Commission-selected teacher becomes available. They have annual panels of TET-cleared and trained teachers to pick from at school level. As a result, they have fewer teacher positions that are left vacant. In private unaided schools too critical leadership and teaching positions are not allowed to be left vacant. This school-level, ad hoc filling up of vacancy by a fully trained teacher on 70% of the starting salary of a regular teacher, till a regular teacher joins, is a good practice. It provides freshly trained teachers an opportunity to gain experience and hone their skills before getting selected as a regular teacher. Teaching requires passion and energy and filling up vacancies by retired teachers may not be the best practice. Lowly paid contractual teachers often suffer from demotivation, in the absence of a pathway to better jobs.

The recruitment of principals (and vice principals) is based on a somewhat different process and follows a double track. One, that uses seniority as its basis and another that is through a Public Service Commission selection process. KVSs and NVSs follow a good policy of having a limited competitive departmental examination conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) as the basis. This ensures negligible vacancies in leadership in these government institutions. This needs replication by states as school leadership must be by selection rather than routine seniority. Not every teacher has the leadership skills needed for a principal.

Also Read: Indian schools improving on many counts, but not enough on gender representation—UDISE+ report

Need for reform

Looking at the system as it exists today, large-scale reforms in the teacher and principal recruitment systems are required. Processes should be streamlined in order to make them less time-consuming and regulated. Further, there is a need for a clear roadmap of career progression and scales of pay and opportunities for professional satisfaction of teachers. The latter would serve to attract the best into the school teaching profession, as happens in Finland, Singapore, Japan, Canada, and Shanghai region of China. In addition to enhancing the professional prestige of the teaching community, efforts to undertake performance assessments of teachers would also go a long way in improving teacher quality and retaining good teachers in the system.

Equally, instances of unfair means in teachers’ recruitment leading to sub-standard teacher recruitment must be dealt with decisively. There must be a clear termination policy for such misadventures of the past. The system should not be made to carry the deadweight of incompetence and selection through corruption.

Further, teacher suitability – above and beyond subject knowledge and educational qualifications – must also figure in the recruitment process. This is especially important for government schools, where the student population is not just diverse but often carries the baggage of poverty and deprivation that require special skills to handle. Daniel Kahneman’s structured interview approach can be adapted for quality selection: rooted in standardisation, it focuses on job-relevant criteria, use of behavioural/situational questions, and systematic scoring. The uniqueness of the teaching profession and its needs have been accepted as a key criterion.

Last but not the least, school leadership that includes the principal, vice principal, and teachers, require constant support and facilitation, even after being recruited and appointed to their posts. For instance, technology provides an opportunity for blended learning. The centrality of the teacher and their choice to facilitate technology-enabled learning, is crucial. Sampark Foundation’s frugal innovation on scale using audio-visual material and assessment approach through the centrality of the teacher in over a lakh government primary schools in India, is a good example of enabling teachers to use technology as innovative pedagogy.

Recruiting good school leaders matters

Leadership plays a pivotal role in school functioning. It helps in bringing a vision to the school;  enables innovation and creativity in the system, allows for adaptation of pedagogical practices that are aligned with the specific needs of students; it can motivate students to attend regularly and take their education more seriously; it can also bridge bridges with the community; increasing their participation in the functioning of the school; and it can also go beyond the community to elicit funds and other resources for the betterment of the school.

The results of good leadership were evident in a recent survey of secondary schools in the National Capital Region, where it was found that KVS and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar School of Specialized Excellence in Delhi are doing better than other schools in assessment tests. Both schools had a full complement of quality teachers and principals. Clearly, adequacy of well-trained teachers and strong, specially selected school leadership team matters.

Amarjeet Sinha and Anuradha De work on the Public Report on Secondary Education (PROSE). Kiran Bhatty was working with the PROSE Team when this post was written. 

This article was originally published on the Ideas for India website.