Special educators fear bid to paint wrong picture in affidavit

Special educators from Kerala who have approached the Supreme Court seeking permanent appointment have alleged a bid to paint an inaccurate picture of their service period in the State government’s affidavit.

The Supreme Court had recently asked Kerala and other States for exact information on appointment of special educators in public schools within four weeks. The case will be heard again on April 16.

Imprecise data

The government has to submit an affidavit with information on how many special educators with Rehabilitation Council of India qualification are working on contract, their pay, service period, and steps to make their services permanent. However, data collection by the Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK) on their service period was imprecise, the special educators said.

Their appointment

The special educators were initially appointed by the district panchayat. They later came under the Inclusive Education for the Disabled (IED) wing at the Directorate of Public Instruction from 2000 to 2008, the IED Secondary

Stage from 2009 to 2016, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) from 2017 to 2018, and the Samagra Shiksha Kerala from 2018 till the present.

Service period

Though many of the special educators had worked under these projects, enquiries by the SSK about their service pertained only to the period under the RMSA and the SSK. This would result in the teachers losing years of their service period, they alleged.

There were secondary special educators under the General Education department who had put in 24 years of service and were currently working on contract, the special educators pointed out in a statement.

Complete service

The government, they demanded, should consider their complete service under the General Education department in the affidavit to the apex court.

An affidavit filed by the State earlier had been rejected by the Supreme Court as it was inaccurate.

As many as 153 special educators from the State under the umbrella of the Kerala Special Educators Federation have impleaded in a writ petition by Rajneesh Kumar Pandey of Uttar Pradesh.