India News | HC Instructs Bihar Govt to Treat Contract, Guest Teachers Equally, Stays Job Test TRE-3

Patna, May 29 (PTI) The Patna High Court on Wednesday directed the Bihar government to treat 'contract teachers' and 'guest teachers' equally in the recruitment process conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) and consequently stayed the BPSC's Teachers Recruitment Exam (TRE)-3.

Justice Anjani Kumar Sharan, while disposing of petitions, said, "Both contract teachers and guest teachers are performing the same duties of teaching students and there is no difference between the two. The state government is directed to decide within a month to grant five marks for each year of employment, up to a maximum of 25 marks, to guest teachers as is given to contract teachers."

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The court also stayed advertisement No. 22/24 dated February 2024 (TRE-3).

The high court's order will benefit over 4,000 guest teachers across Bihar, allowing them to participate in the BPSC teachers recruitment exam with the same preferential marks as contract teachers. The guest teachers lost their positions on April 1, 2024, following an order from the education department.

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The Director of Secondary Education had recently instructed district education officers to discontinue the services of guest teachers who were hired on a fixed remuneration after an order from the education department on January 25, 2018.

This was because the recruitment of 94,738 teachers in higher secondary schools – 37,847 for classes IX and X and 56,891 for classes XI and XII – rendered the need for guest teachers unnecessary. Guest teachers were previously paid Rs 1,000 per working day, with a maximum monthly limit of Rs 25,000.

The court noted that guest teachers, like contract teachers, were involved in conducting various administrative duties such as elections and examination evaluations. However, the BPSC did not initially offer the same preference marks to guest teachers in its TRE 3.0 advertisement.

Furthermore, the High Court mentioned that the BPSC had previously cancelled both sittings of the TRE 3.0 held on March 15 due to allegations of question paper leaks. The BPSC was expected to announce a new examination date after the elections.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)