New Delhi, 05 October (H.S.): Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has written to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav seeking an increase in the number of posts under the Class-II and Class-III teacher recruitment process in the state. He also urged the Chief Minister to immediately withdraw notices issued to protesting teacher candidates, engage in dialogue with their representatives and initiate the second phase of counselling at the earliest.

In his letter to the Chief Minister on Monday, Rahul Gandhi said that during the 'Students' Voice' programme held in Indore, teacher candidates from Madhya Pradesh had prominently raised the issue of increasing the number of posts in the Class-II and Class-III recruitment process.

He said that more than one lakh teaching posts are already vacant in government schools across the state. The shortage of teachers is directly affecting children's education and the quality of schooling. Despite this, under the 2025 teacher recruitment process, recruitment has been announced for only 13,089 Class-III posts and 10,800 Class-II posts.

Rahul Gandhi said that young candidates in the state were demanding that the number of posts in the teacher recruitment process be increased in line with the existing vacancies. This would help address the shortage of teachers in government schools and provide thousands of qualified young people with opportunities for regular government employment.

He said that a large number of candidates had secured good marks in the selection examination. Among them are several candidates who have been working as guest teachers in government schools for a long time and are awaiting regular appointments.

He said that because the number of posts in the recruitment process remained limited, many candidates who had performed well in the selection examination were also left without appointments. Some candidates who have been waiting for the recruitment and appointment process for a long time are now approaching the prescribed upper age limit. In such circumstances, increasing the number of posts is also important to preserve employment opportunities for these candidates, he said.

Rahul Gandhi urged the Chief Minister to give serious consideration to the demands of the candidates.

In his letter, Rahul Gandhi also sought an early commencement of the second phase of counselling, along with an increase in the number of posts under the Class-II and Class-III teacher recruitment process. He said that expediting the recruitment process would provide relief to candidates who have cleared the examination and are awaiting appointment. At the same time, it would help address the shortage of teachers in government schools across the state.

It may be recalled that candidates for the Class-II and Class-III teacher recruitment process had earlier submitted a detailed memorandum of demands to Rahul Gandhi under the leadership of state coordinator Deepti Thakur. The candidates had highlighted the disparity between the number of sanctioned posts in the Education Department and the number of posts included in the current recruitment process.

The candidates claim that despite more than 1.15 lakh posts being sanctioned in the Education Department, a comparatively smaller number of posts have been included in the recruitment process. They have been staging a prolonged phased agitation and an indefinite sit-in protest in Bhopal over their demands.

Their key demands include an increase of 3,000 posts in each subject under Class-II recruitment and raising the total number of Class-III posts to 25,000.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar