AGARTALA: Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar on Wednesday told the House that the state government has prepared a contingency plan to run schools after December 31, when the services of 10,323 teachers will be terminated as per the Supreme Court 's March 29 ruling."While we upheld the decision of the high court of Tripura regarding the termination of service of 10,323 teachers, the apex court has permitted us to seek relaxation for candidates who do not have BEd degrees from the Centre. It was sought but there has been no response yet. We hope it will come soon before we advertise the posts," Sarkar said in the assembly.If the Centre's approval does not come in time and an adequate number of qualified candidates is not found, the government will re-distribute the existing 36,000-odd teachers across the 4,600-odd schools of the state from January 1, 2018 so that the schools can continue to function smoothly. "We believe our teachers are ready to take on extra pressure for managing the situation until the vacant posts are filled up by the qualified teachers through Teachers Eligibility Test (TET). Besides, the state government has undertaken multiple steps to ensure quality education in the state," Sarkar added.The discussion on the government's plan for the running of schools affected by the decision was initiated by Congress MLA Gopal Roy , who accused the state government of adopting a "wrong" attitude and policy, damaging the education sector and not being serious about the formulation of a valid employment policy or filling up the vacant teacher posts. "The education system has collapsed due to the appointment of under-qualified teachers and nepotism in the selection process. The court termed the appointment of 10,323 teachers as illegal and unconstitutional but the Left Front government has not paid serious attention to it," Roy alleged. Trinamool Congress legislator Sudip Roy Barman accused the state government of not prioritizing the appointment of teachers and only being concerned about the rehabilitation of the illegally appointed CPM cadres.

Stay updated with all the Agartala Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.