Delhi Cabinet okays regularisation of 15,000 guest teachers

The Delhi Cabinet on Wednesday approved regularisation of 15,000 guest teachers working in its schools and a bill will be presented in the Assembly next week.

"Approximately 15,000 guest teachers are teaching in the schools of the Directorate of Education(DoE) and have played a crucial role in some of the flagship programmes including Summer Camps, Chunauti, and Reading Campaign," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said after the Cabinet meeting.

"The Cabinet approved regularisation of these teachers and a draft Legislative proposal has been formulated, which will be brought in the ensuing Delhi Vidhan Sabha Session to be convened on October 4 for approval," he added.

Sisodia, who is also Delhi's Education Minister, said the guest teachers played a crucial role in Delhi government's education reform process as they had the skills and experience required to teach in government schools.

"If the guest teachers who are currently teaching in our schools were to be replaced with fresh candidates, DoE would suffer quite a setback to our education reform process and we would need to re-start the process from scratch," he said.

"Apart from the training programmes that we have invested in, guest teachers have, over the years, acquired skills and competencies essential to working in government schools and if we lose their services the benefit of their experience will also be lost," he added.