I recently read about this news that soon govt. schools in Delhi might be taking on retired teachers to act as substitute teachers in case of any shortage of staff in the school.
Manish Sisodia the Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister has given the go ahead for this rule and has even said that “If there is shortage of teachers in any school, then the principal need not ask the deputy director or send the file to him. Now, the principals will be able to appoint retired teachers of government schools for such vacancies.”
Now, as far as I can see this ruling is well, not really a terrible one and in fact could even be a good one.
We are any ways witnessing a rapid decrease in people taking up teaching as a profession or even if they have then leaving due to one reason or another.
In most instances, it is the students who have to suffer and their education that gets affected.
If schools can bring back retired teachers, then it would really take the load of existing teachers, teachers who have to take an off but can’t due to the staff already being low and what not.
But at the same time, I couldn’t really find much information on how and what kind of ruling will be implemented for these retired teachers.
Will They Be Paid? And If So How Much?
Since they are being brought on as substitutes, of course they will be paid, but remember these teachers are retired, which means that they have already done their time (in a manner of speaking) and might take some coaxing before they come back the hectic schedule of a teacher.
We can all think of being in an idealistic world where the retired teacher would be more than happy to come back to their school and offer their services. And while that might be an occasional or even rare thing, most of the retired teachers won’t exactly be enthusiastic about it.
That is why, if the school wants to convince them to come back, they would have to pay just a little higher to what they would be paying a fresher substitute teacher.
And if that is so, then can most schools even afford to spend up so much money on teachers?
We know that teaching is not exactly a rich profession, but there would have to be serious incentives in order to make them re-enter their old job.
Is Turning To Retired Teachers The Only Solution?
While there is nothing wrong with retired teachers coming back to deal with short teaching staff, however even still, isn’t it high time that we step up our game to make teaching a more alluring profession once more?
Because sadly it is not just schools, even colleges are witnessing this with an alarming rate.
So isn’t it time to start focusing on that part and maybe brining about regulations and changes that make people apply to be teachers.
Image Credits: Google Images
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