Vacant posts make journey to new school roller-coaster

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 13: The journey from old school to new school in education in Assam is indeed a roller-coaster one, especially with the abysmally large number of vacant posts at all levels.

The revelations made in the State Assembly by State Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on the number of vacant posts of teachers and other staff members in the schools of the State on Tuesday are quite startling. The minister was replying to a question from Congress MLA Zakir Hussain Sikdar.

According to Sarma, as many as 15,852 posts of high and higher secondary schools are vacant in the State, besides 12,121 vacant posts in elementary schools. This is not all. The minister’s reply has further revealed that as many as 999 third grade and 2,113 fourth grade posts have also been lying vacant in high and higher secondary schools in the State. The number of fourth grade posts lying vacant in elementary schools in the State, according to the minister, is 1,189. The State, as the minister informed the House, has 39,986 lower primary schools and 7,832 upper primary schools. At present the number of LP school teachers in the State is 67,962 and that of UP schools is 31,272. The total number of high and higher secondary schools in the State, as revealed by the minister, is 4,132 with 55,094 teachers working in them.

The minister told the House that the vacant posts would be filled up soon.