Christian schools in Jharkhand begin appointing teachers even as state govt. defies HC order

Ranchi – Exasperated by the defiance shown by the state government of Jharkhand against the order of the state High Court, Christian schools have begun appointing teachers themselves.

On May 17, the Jharkhand High Court gave the state government 10 days to provisionally sanction the appointment of teachers in schools run by minority religious communities. It also directed the government to "give formal approval" to the appointments after reviewing them. However, the government has not complied with the court order so far.

The High Court ruling came on a petition filed by Fr. Ernest Kerketta, secretary of the Jharkhand Christian Minority Educational Institutions Association. According to the priest, the day the court deadline ended, he asked all Christian schools to fill the vacancies.

The vacancies are for teaching posts known as mission posts, which are approved by the state government when it approves a minority school.

In Jharkhand, Christians manage 798 primary and secondary schools, close to 90 percent of all the schools managed by minority groups, which also include Jains, Muslims and Sikhs. A primary school goes up to fourth grade and a secondary school to 10th grade.

The Catholic Church manages more than 90 percent of the Christian schools, which have about 200 mission post vacancies, according to Fr. Kerketta.

According to news reports, though, the government has approved the vacancies, yet, it has still not sanctioned the appointment of new teachers to fill them. This approval is required in order for the teachers to start drawing their government–paid salaries.

Fr. Kerketta said his association has discussed the matter with government officials and ministers several times, but found them "not in favor of minority schools." He added that they created new problems after every discussion.

"The only way left for us was to knock on the door of the High Court," said the priest, who has filed eight cases in the court, all relating to minority schools. "This is the first case, which came in our favor. I hope we will win all the other cases."

The priest added that the High Court squashed three orders various educational department officials issued since March 2004 asking minority schools not to appoint teachers.

Last May, a delegation from Christian minority schools led by Auxiliary Bishop Vincent Barwa of Ranchi met Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi and pleaded for his intervention. They also presented a memorandum to the Governor, listing the problems facing minority schools. The problems included unpaid salaries of up to 28 months, despite another High Court order for the government to release wage arrears and curbs on how the schools function.

According to current procedures, the education department is supposed to pay salaries to teachers of minority schools every four months after government approval. But, according to Jesuit Fr. James Toppo, president of Christian Minority Secondary Schoolteachers Association, "The files are made to go through long processes and even a minor objection by a clerk at the education office has the power to hold them up indefinitely.” The education department now takes 12–14 months to release the funds, though the schools submit wage invoices on time, he said.

According to the Jesuit priest, the situation is complicated because of an earlier intervention by the central government, when Jharkhand was still a part of Bihar. Finding that the teacher–to–student ratio in Bihar was 1:78, whereas the stipulated ratio was 1:40, the central government directed Bihar to act to address this gap. However, the state responded by saying that it had no money for extra teachers. Thereafter, the central government agreed to pay for these additional teachers, for what are known as planned posts, for five years, after which the state would have to pay their salaries.

Accordingly, minority schools appointed new teachers. Jharkhand is now responsible for paying those salaries. Fr. Kerketta said Christian schools have 408 vacancies in these planned posts. But in the past two months, education department officials have directed minority schools to use planned–post teachers to fill existing vacancies in mission posts.

Denouncing the “arm–twisting” tactics used by the education department, Bishop Barwa claimed that officials were "irrationally" adjusting teachers' posts. He cited the case of a Catholic school that appointed a Sanskrit teacher to a planned post. The education department has directed the school to use that teacher to fill the vacancy left when a mathematics teacher retired from a mission post.

The school wrote to the department for clarification as to how a Sanskrit teacher could teach mathematics. Instead of explaining, the education department threatened to withhold the new teacher's salary if the school failed to comply with the order.

"We feel that this government is totally against the minority schools," the bishop said.

Fr. Toppo shared similar views. According to him, the Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP–led state government handed down a "step–motherly treatment" to the minority schools. However, the High Court order could help solve "one of the biggest problems of Christian minority schools," provided, the state government acted according to the order, he said.