Two years after takeover by govt, National School staffers yet to be regularised

Two years after takeover by govt, National School staffers yet to be regularised

Srinagar Oct 21: Nearly two years after taking over the historic National School and merging it with a government school, the School Education Department is yet to regularise its staff.
The school was taken over by the department in January last year with the department promising “continuation of utilisation of services of the existing 11 staff members till they attain the age of superannuation”.
In the aftermath of 2014 floods the department had shifted four schools – Middle School Chota Bazar, High School Zaindar Mohalla, Middle School Tenki Pora, and Middle School Chinkral Mohalla – to National School premises.
Even though the National School’s 40 students has enrolled with the High School Zaindar Mohalla, the department is yet to regularise its 11 staff members, who an official said, were without salary for the last many years.
An official at High School Zaindar Mohalla confirmed that the National School staff was yet to be regularised by the School Education Department.
She informed that there were nine teachers at National School assisted by two non-teaching staffers. The total enrolment of the two schools post merger was 98, she added.
An official at the Directorate of School Education Kashmir told Kashmir Reader that they had forwarded a proposal to the Administrative Department over the fate of the staffers.
The DSEK, the official said, has asked the department to either consider the staffers for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) or continue their engagement “on the very terms and conditions they were employed by the ex employer”.
Secretary School Education, Sarita Chauhan did not respond to repeated calls by this reporter.
The National School’s tradition of not charging the students any fee coupled with the declining enrolment in recent years had added to the woes of the staff.
The enrolment at the school has drastically come down due to official apathy over the years.
A teacher at the school claimed that during its heydays, staffers at the National School would be paid “more than government teachers”.

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