Kathmandu, August 23 Ministry of Education is preparing to announce vacancy for a total of 28,000 permanent teachers. The positions would be filled through internal competition between temporary teachers and appointment of freshers. Speaking at an orientation training on School Sector Development Plan and Education Act for media persons organised jointly by MoE, UNICEF, Education Journalists Network and Educational Pages, Hari Lamsal, spokesperson, MoE, said the ministry was preparing to announce four types of vacancies. As per the eighth amendment to the Education Act, the first vacancy will be for temporary teachers appointed before January 4, 1993; second for temporary teachers hired between January 5, 1993 and August 5, 2004; and third for temporary teachers who were appointed between August 6, 2004 and September 19, 2015. “All temporary teachers eligible for first category vacancy will get permanent status,” he said, adding, “However, although temporary, lien and women teachers would be allowed to apply for second category vacancy, not all of them would be given permanent status as the number of vacant seats would be limited.” He further said that in the third category 49 per cent of seats have been allocated for temporary teachers and 51 per cent for freshers. All these vacancies will be announced at once, said Lamsal, adding, “Temporary teachers who don’t want to compete for permanent posts could opt for golden handshake,” he added. The Education Act (eighth amendment) has given temporary teachers the option to either participate in internal competition or opt for golden handshake on the basis of years of teaching experience. A temporary teacher must have completed 20 years of service to be eligible for golden handshake. As per the amended act, temporary teachers completing 5 to 10 years of service will be entitled to half-month’s salary for each year while teachers with 10 to 15 years of work experience will be granted an amount equal to one month salary for each year served. Similarly, teachers completing more than 15 years of experience will be provided an amount equal to one- and-a-half-month’s salary per year. “Management of teachers is a matter of political commitment. Therefore, we are going to begin the process after the new education minister gets appointed,” he stated. Around two months ago, School Teachers Management Section under the Department of Education had started collecting details of temporary teachers working across the country. Dev Kumari Guragain, acting director general, DoE, said, “We are still collecting details of temporary teachers,” adding, “We have recently sent SMS alert to all the district education offices and regional education directorates to furnish details of temporary teachers at the earliest.”