Vipin Prakash Sharma, state president of the Rajasthan Primary and Secondary Teachers’ Association, said the department’s promotion chain had “completely broken down”, calling large-scale vacancies in senior teacher and lecturer posts a “management failure”. “If promotions are held on time, lower positions will become vacant and higher positions will be filled, eliminating this artificial imbalance and opening the way for new recruitments. Despite so many vacant posts, there was no announcement about new recruitment of teachers. The govt wants model schools, but there should be teachers first to cater to all students,” Sharma said. In the Budget presented Wednesday, finance minister Diya Kumari announced the upgradation of 400 schools into CM-RISE institutions. Teachers pointed out that Grade-3 promotions have been pending for five years and transfers stalled for nearly seven. With 42,325 senior teacher posts vacant and 32,000 Grade-3 teachers awaiting promotion, they argued timely promotions could ease the shortage of subject teachers. “There is a clear contradiction. Experienced teachers are nearing retirement without promotion, while schools lack subject experts. The govt must address this imbalance,” said association general secretary Mahendra Pandey.
