GUWAHATI, Jan 11 � The State Government has started the process of appointing regular principals in all the colleges, and 25 colleges functioning with in-charge heads will have regular principals by February 18.
Addressing a press conference, Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that some college governing bodies (GBs) were showing reluctance in the matter of appointment of regular principals despite specific instructions from the Government.
�We are serious about ensuring regular principals in all the colleges soon, and 25 colleges will get regular principals by February 18,� Sarma said.
Next, the Government will start the process for appointing regular principals in all the higher secondary schools.
Sarma further said that the Government would soon have a policy to prevent politicians from occupying positions in governing bodies of educational institutions.
�In principle, we do not want politicians in the GBs. But the matter involves some complicacies as to who is a politician because many teachers and educationists are involved in politics in one way or other. However, we want to draw a line by defining those as politicians who have contested elections at any level from panchayat to Parliament,� Sarma said.
On the issue of OBB teachers not getting regular pay-scale, the minister said that those who had completed the now mandatory one-year training would be eligible for regular pay-scale.
He said that of the 4,893 OBB teachers (excluding those in Bodoland Territorial Council areas), 3,761 had successfully completed the training, thus making them eligible for regular pay � scale. In addition, another 1,310 OBB teachers of the 1,641 (40-40 group) will get regular pay-scale as they too have completed the training, he added.
