Primary School Teachers' Job | Chhattisgarh HC Annuls Appointment Of B.Ed Degree Holders, Directs State Govt To Rearrange Selection List In 6 weeks

In a significant verdict, the Chhattisgarh High Court last week declared the Annexure - I (i) of Schedule-III appended to Section 8 of the Chhattisgarh School Education Services (Education Administrative Cadre) Recruitment and Promotion Rules, 2019 to the extent that it allowed the B.Ed degree holders to participate in the assistant teacher recruitment process as ultra vires to Article 21-A of the Constitution of India.With this, the Court has annulled the appointment of BEd candidates in the recruitment process for assistant teachers. The court has also directed the state government to release a revised selection list within six weeks. In the order, the court has also said that B.El.Ed pass candidates should be given adequate opportunity in the revised selection list.In its 58-page judgment, the division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Arvind Kumar Verma opined that the state had erred by allowing candidates with a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) qualification to participate in the selection process for primary school teachers. The division bench opined, “The State has committed illegality by permitting the candidates having the qualification of B.Ed. in the selection process initiated vide advertisement dated 04.05.2019 since the said qualification does not exist in the statute book of the RTE Act 2009 after its quashment by the Rajasthan High Court vide judgment dated 25.11.2021.”“The law is well settled in M/S Kusum Ingots case' (supra) that once the central statute is quashed by one of the High Court it would be applicable to all the States subject to its applicability. The RTE Act 2009 being Central Act having the overriding effect by virtue of Article 254 of the Constitution of India and if any of the provision (in the present case notification dated 28.06.2018 issued under Section 23 of the said Act 2019) is quashed or declared as ultra vires then it would be applicable to all other States. The State of Chhattisgarh has clearly committed an error in keeping the provision regarding prescription of qualification of B.Ed. alive in the Rules 2019 even after the judgment of the Rajasthan High Court,” the Court added.The Judgment has been passed in light of the Supreme Court's 2023 verdict in the case of Devesh Sharma v. Union of India 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 633 wherein the top court had ruled that B.Ed. degree holders did not pass the basic pedagogical threshold required for teaching primary classes and thus could not provide 'quality' education to primary school children.Controversy regarding the appointment of B.Ed degree holders as primary school teachers erupted when the state education department ignored the specialized training offered in the D El Ed course for elementary education, choosing instead to hire candidates with a BEd qualification.The case in briefThe primary challenge presented in a batch of writ petitions before the HC concerned the notification dated June 28, 2018, issued by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) under Section 23(1) of the Right to Education Act 2009. This notification outlined the eligibility criteria for the appointment of primary school teachers (Class I to V), specifying that holders of B.Ed. Degrees are qualified for such roles.In addition to this substantive challenge, petitioners also raise consequential concerns regarding the provisions outlined in the 2019 State Rules. These rules incorporate the B.Ed. Degree as a qualification for the appointment to the position of 'Assistant Teacher' within the State Government, as detailed in Annexure - I (i) of Schedule III appended to Section 8 of the Recruitment Rules 2019. Notably, this entry in Annexure –I (i) had been further amended/substituted by a notification dated May 4, 2023.Furthermore, petitioners contested the advertisement dated May 4, 2023, which allows candidates holding a 'B.Ed.' degree to participate in the selection process for appointment to the position of 'Assistant Teacher' in primary schools (for classes I to V).Therefore, the challenges presented in these writ petitions were as follows:(i) The validity of the notification dated June 28, 2018, issued by the National Council of Teacher Education under the authority of Section 23(1) of the Right to Education Act 2009.(ii) The inclusion of the 'B.Ed.' qualification as permissible for appointment to the position of Assistant Teacher, as outlined in Annexure-I (i) of Schedule-III appended to Rule 8 of the Rules 2019.(iii) The allowance for candidates possessing a 'B.Ed.' degree to participate in the selection process for the position of 'Assistant Teacher', as per the advertisement dated May 4, 2023.Court's AnalysisIn its deliberations on the matter, the Court emphasized the settled legal precedent established by the Supreme Court in the case of Devesh Sharma, asserting that the eligibility requirement for the appointment of teachers at the primary level remains well-established, particularly regarding the suitability of a Bachelor ...

Primary School Teachers' Job | Chhattisgarh HC Annuls Appointment Of B.Ed Degree Holders, Directs State Govt To Rearrange Selection List In 6 weeks

Bhavya Singh

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