Maharashtra: After reluctance, Eknath Shinde govt lifts stay on MVA era rule regarding night schools

Mumbai: After months of back and forth, the state government has finally decided to reinstate regular teachers to night schools in the state

The decision, which was originally taken by the then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in June last year, was put on hold in December by the new ruling alliance of Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) and BJP. However, on Tuesday, the state issued a government resolution (GR) announcing to lift the stay on the policy of letting regular teachers work double shifts.

The state has around 176 night schools and junior colleges, of which more than 150 are located in Mumbai alone. These schools mostly cater to illiterate adults and even children who work during the daytime.

Around 1,010 teachers and 348 non-teaching staff at night schools were removed in May 2017, after the government decided to no longer allow regular day-time school staff to also serve at night. The move was aimed at reducing the state's expenditure on the additional salaries paid to night school teachers. While as many as 174 of these teachers were replaced by surplus teachers in regular schools, the bulk of the posts at night schools remained vacant. 

The shortage of teachers, especially for subjects such as Science and Mathematics led to a deterioration of the learning process at the schools, found an expert committee appointed by the MVA government. The panel proposed a new policy, under which the regular teachers are to be again appointed at night schools. Among other measures, it also recommended reducing the teaching time at night schools from three and a half hours to two and a half hours.

While some teacher groups were in favour of reinstating the regular teachers, others opposed it. After expressing its intent to reinstate to go ahead with the new policy, the State Education Department under the new minister Deepak Kesarkar, put it on hold in December last year. It also formed a new committee headed by the state education commissioner to prepare a fresh blueprint for the development of night schools. Despite the go-ahead on the suspended policy, the committee will continue to be operational, with two new members added to it.

One of the persons added to the committee, Chandrakant Mhatre, who is the Headmaster at New Era Night High School Chembur and President of Maharashtra State Night School Headmasters Association, has welcomed the recent decision. "It's mostly the poor and working students, many of whom are past their childhood, who study at the night schools. While the government removed double-shift teachers, they were not replaced. This had a drastic impact on night schools," he said.