Kathmandu, December 15

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority has directed local levels not to reappoint any school teacher who retired from service as part of the golden handshake scheme offered by the government.

An inquiry conducted by the anti-graft body suggested that some community schools had reappointed temporary teachers, who could not attain permanent status through open competition for years, at the behest of the concerned local levels. According to a report of the anti-graft body, municipalities and rural municipalities were indulged in creating new positions and appointing teachers without complying with the prescribed criteria and procedures to provide jobs to the relatives of local level office-bearers. “No local level or school is authorised to create new positions of teachers in contravention of the number of posts sanctioned by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology,” the report read.

As per the Local Government Operation Act-2017, local levels shall only adjust the position of teachers and support their capacity development. “However, some of the local levels were found to have appointed and transferred teachers. It is strongly suggested that the Education Rules-2002, be fully complied with for appointment and transfer of community school teachers,” it read. Some local levels have misused state resource by providing schemes for physical infrastructure development to schools which were not entitled to such facilities, either due to low number of students or for already possessing required infrastructure.