Four Teachers Suspended in Korba for Not Joining After Rationalization; Salaries of Several Others Withheld

Raipur, 14 September

In Korba district, four teachers who failed to report to their assigned schools following the rationalization process have been suspended. Additionally, several others who did not join their new postings have been issued show-cause notices, and their salaries for the past two months have been withheld.

Despite their appeals being rejected at both the district and divisional levels, these teachers continued to avoid joining their allocated schools. As a result, disciplinary action has been initiated. The District Education Officer (DEO) has directed all such teachers to report to their respective schools immediately and resume teaching duties.

According to the DEO of Korba, under the rationalization guidelines issued by the state government, 292 assistant teachers and 15 head teachers from primary schools, as well as 153 teachers and head teachers from middle schools, were identified as surplus staff in the district.

As per the rationalization policy, these surplus teachers were to be transferred to single-teacher or teacher-less schools. Since the number of such under-staffed schools in the district exceeded the number of surplus teachers, the District Rationalization Committee decided to deploy them to remote areas and long-neglected schools that had a critical teacher shortage.

Based on this decision, open counseling was conducted, and posting orders were issued accordingly.

Many teachers who were dissatisfied with their postings submitted representations before the district-level rationalization committee. However, after thorough consideration, these appeals were found unsatisfactory and thus rejected. Subsequently, some teachers approached the Hon’ble Chhattisgarh High Court in Bilaspur.

The court directed that such teachers may submit their grievances again to the district rationalization committee, and that the committee must resolve them within one week. Following the court’s directive, five appeals were accepted, while the remaining were again found unsatisfactory and rejected.

Furthermore, the state government established divisional and state-level rationalization committees to address unresolved appeals. Those whose grievances were not accepted at the district level then approached the divisional committee. After hearings, two appeals were upheld, while the rest were rejected for lacking merit.

Meanwhile, show-cause notices were issued to teachers who had still not joined their new postings despite the rejection of their appeals. Since their responses were deemed unsatisfactory, four assistant teachers were suspended, and the salaries of all non-reporting teachers have been withheld for the past two months.

The DEO stated that following rationalization, most teachers in remote primary and middle schools have taken charge of their new postings. As a result, regular teaching activities have resumed in these schools. In schools where there is still a shortage of teachers, temporary teaching arrangements are being made using funds from the District Mineral Trust Fund (DMF).