Top court deadline over month ago, Punjab yet to notify special educator posts

Over a month after missing the Supreme Court’s March 28 deadline, the Punjab education department is yet to notify sanctioned posts for special educators in government schools. The delay has angered special educators and rights activists, who accuse the state of denying thousands of children with special needs their fundamental right to education.

After the top court directed all states and union territories to declare their sanctioned posts for special educators by March 28, states like Bihar, Gujarat, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh advertised vacancies, but the Punjab government failed to act. “It raises serious questions about Punjab government’s commitment to inclusive education,” said Harish Dutt, an unemployed special educator who has been campaigning for appointments.

The Union of Unemployed Special Education Teachers recently got information through a Right to Information (RTI) query that Punjab has only 386 contractual special educators to cater to 47,979 students with special needs, violating the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2022, that mandates one special educator for every 10 special students in primary schools and one for every 15 students in secondary schools.

In Ludhiana district alone, only 30 special educators are responsible for 7,330 students.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), acting on Dutt’s complaint, had in February sought a probe by the director general of school education in Punjab. The Punjab State Commission for Protection of Child Rights also stepped in, instructing the elementary education department to look into it.

When contacted, Anindita Mitra, administrative secretary of the school education department, said a file related to finalising the posts had been reversed by the finance department. She didn’t disclose what steps would follow. An official, seeking anonymity, mentioned that there were technical and legal issues in the recruitment process.