Bihar teachers’ recruitment rules amended, allows nationwide candidates to apply

The Bihar cabinet on Tuesday amended the teachers’ recruitment rules opening the recruitment for all Indian citizens.

The decision to amend the Bihar State School Teachers (appointment, transfer, disciplinary action and service condition) Rules, 2023 was taken in the state cabinet meeting, presided by chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Also Read: Teachers planning protests against new recruitment rules in Bihar to face action

Earlier, the vacancies were confined to only permanent residents of Bihar and the matter was also challenged in the Patna high court, where many petitions have been filed against the new recruitment rules under which all future appointments of school teachers will be carried out by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).

The matter will be heard on July 4.

“Now the precondition for a candidate to be a permanent resident of India has been removed,” the notification issued by the education department stated.

This may also lead to an extension of the date for submission of application forms.

The last date for filling out applications is July 12.

On June 15, the BPSC had started the process for online submission of applications for 1.75-lakh vacancies in secondary and higher secondary schools.

Nearly four lakh working teachers have, however, decided not to associate with the process, demanding that they should be given the status of government employees without any exam rider due to their old service.

The government has categorically said that all fresh appointments of school teachers would be done through the BPSC, as laid down under the new rules.

Only those who clear the examination will have government employee status.

The existing lot of teachers appointed through panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies since 2006 will also need to go through the process for upgrade as government employees.

“As they have stayed away from the recruitment process, the number of applicants fulfilling the laid down requirements is not very high. The candidates, having already qualified for the teacher eligibility test and having been waiting for an appointment for the last four years, have also moved the court separately. Besides, the domicile issue cannot stand the scrutiny of law. The Jharkhand high court had earlier rejected the state government’s notification on its domicile policy. Besides, the poor pay scale compared to other states is a big deterrent for talented candidates even from Bihar, leave alone those from other states,” said former MP and president of the Bihar secondary teachers’ association Shatrughan Prasad Singh.

He said that the teachers having worked in schools since 2006 have only one demand - the status of government employees.

“The government is just whiling away time. The school teachers are banking on the court to set things right,” he added.