SRINAGAR: Nearly 1,000 sanctioned posts for physical education teachers remain vacant in Jammu and Kashmir and have been kept frozen for regularisation under the Rehbar-e-Khel policy, the School Education Department told the Legislative Assembly.
The department said 964 posts of physical education teacher are currently unfilled and that Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board made only 52 PET selections between 2013 and 2017. The vacancies, the reply added, are being held in reserve pending the regularisation of Rehbar-e-Khel engagees under the Government Order No. 141-Edu(YSS) dated October 27, 2017.
The Assembly reply said that, as per the Rehbar-e-Khel policy, vacant PET posts were earmarked for the absorption of Rehbar-e-Khel workers and therefore “kept reserved”. The department declined to propose immediate fresh recruitment or de-freezing of the posts, saying the reservation for regularisation remains in force pursuant to the policy. School Education Department provided the reply on the record.
Lawmakers who raised the question told the house that thousands of schools—an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 institutions, particularly at primary and middle levels—operate without a sanctioned category of physical education staff. The question paper cited consequences including rising unemployment among professionally qualified candidates with B P Ed, M P Ed, NET and Ph D qualifications, alleged over-age problems for applicants, and “mental distress” among trained youth; it also warned of adverse effects on pupils’ physical development. The department’s reply echoed the policy position but did not offer a timetable to lift the freeze or open a fresh recruitment drive.
The School Education Department said that vacancies of physical education teacher posts have been reserved specifically for the proposed regularisation of Rehbar-e-Khel engagees in line with Government Order No. 141-Edu(YSS) of October 27, 2017. It added that there is currently no alternate proposal to create additional PET posts or to de-freeze the reserved vacancies outside the regularisation exercise.
The figures and policy references appear in the official reply tabled by the department in response to an unstarred question L234 raised by Sajad Gani Lone. The record shows the department’s reliance on the 2017 Rehbar-e-Khel policy as the principal reason for the continued suspension of recruitment to the vacant PET posts.
