Kathmandu, January 5

The Bill on the Eight Amendment to the Education Act 1971, which was forwarded to the concerned committee of the Parliament yesterday, has proposed giving one last chance to temporary teachers to take a written test for permanent posts.

The bill has proposed announcing vacancies for permanent posts of teachers within a year of its endorsement. School teachers, who had been appointed as temporary teachers prior to January 4, 1993 will be allowed to take the test for permanent posts lying vacant till August 5, 2004.

Temporary teachers appointed before 1993, teachers working on lien since 1993 and teachers appointed for basic and primary education projects will also be eligible to compete for the remaining posts of permanent teachers.

Similarly, temporary teachers who have been working on lien till the announcement of open competition by the TSC on January 3, 2013 will also be eligible to compete for 49 per cent of posts lying vacant between August 6, 2004 and April 23, 2006.

There will be no age bar for temporary teachers competing for permanent posts.

As per the proposed bill, teachers competing for permanent posts must get at least 40 marks to pass the exam.

Only applicants who will pass the written exam, interview and practical tests will be awarded permanent posts. However, practical tests will be conducted only if deemed necessary by the TSC.

If the bill gets endorsed, TSC will be announce the vacancies for three different categories separately, while the practical exams will be held at the same time.

Nirendra Kunwar, president, Temporary Teachers Struggle Central Committee, said the government had tried to cheat them by introducing new provisions in the Education Act.

He said that Section 11f (1c) of the Education Act that came into effect in January 2007 ensures various facilities to temporary teachers who have already worked in government schools for more than five years but the government has failed to implement the act.

“The Education Act amended in 2007 had decided to provide temporary teachers remuneration and other perks on par with permanent teachers. The Supreme Court had also issued a directive in this regard.

But the new provisions were introduced to cheat and deprive temporary teachers of facilities ensured earlier by the government,” he said.

According to government data, there are altogether 17,135 temporary teachers across the country. Kunwar said around 1,500 teachers have already retired due to age bar while the same number of teachers have got permanent status through open competition in the past few years.