Delhi government hires 6,000 teachers to fill shortage in schools

New Delhi: To overcome the problem of shortage of teachers in the government schools in the national capital, Delhi government has hired more than 6,000 guest teachers and 10,000 more are expected to join soon, a senior official said.

"Several initiatives are being taken to fill the gap of shortage of government teachers in capital as the focus is to provide quality education in government schools. The Directorate of Education has inducted more than six thousand guest teachers recently and ten thousand are going to join shortly," said Padmini Singla, Director, Education.

1981 TGT's (Trained Graduate Teacher) and 284 assistant teachers were hired under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in July this year.

"The Directorate (of Education) is in regular touch with Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) and it is likely to fill up the rest of the vacancies in current academic year only," Singla said in a statement.

To motivate the government teachers, who are often criticised for their lackadaisical approach, the Director said she has started to communicate directly with the principals and teachers of the schools by writing letters addressed to them and encouraging them to reply back to her.

Also, the Education Department is going to organise Open House Discussion at the Thyagraj Stadium this month where selected principals will share their successful best practises with all the 1007 heads of government schools in order to explore the possibilities of replicating them.

About the quality of education being imparted to students in government schools, Singla said "government school teachers are best among the lot and it is proven, as they have been giving best in class results year after year".

However, due to 'No Detention Policy' up to class eight, some children tend to take their studies lightly and when they reach class ninth, they directly need extra support to survive the pressure of studies, she said, adding, the Directorate of Education has started remedial classes for students from class ninth onwards for this purpose.