State level seniority will affect nearly 1lakh primary school teachers opportunities... S.Mayil TNPTF

Government primary school teachers in Tamil Nadu will now come under State-level seniority, while previously they were un- der block-level seniority.

According to a G.O. is- sued by the School Educa- tion Department, the go- vernment has decided to amend the Special Rules for the Tamil Nadu Ele- mentary Education Subor dinate Service to make the State as the unit of appoint- ment in all categories of teachers.

The Directorate of Ele mentary Education was al- so directed to prepare a State-wide seniority list based on the teacher cate- gories and not to revert any incumbent teacher to lower posts, the order stat-

ed This comes after the Madurai Bench of the Ma- dras High Court directed

the government to change its policy and to reconsider bringing them under the State seniority list or to at least the district seniority list.

A long-pending demand of some teachers, the go- vernment's decision, ho wever, drew mixed reac- tions.

Welcoming the move, P. Patrick Raymond, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Graduate Teachers Federa- tion said, previously, pro- motions for the teachers would be affected when they moved from district to district.

"Now, this new amend- ment would ensure that T everyone gets promo- tions," he said.

Meanwhile, the TamilNadu Primary School Teachers'Federation

(TNPSTF) was dishear- tened to hear the news. "These changes will affect nearly 1 lakh primary school teachers opportuni- ties as this order brings all the teachers under one rule. The rule will only be nefit the teachers in high schools and higher secon- dary schools, not us," said S. Mayil, general secretary of the federation.