Pathanamthitta: More than 5,000 guest teachers, who were appointed by various schools, are facing an uncertain situation as their appointments are still pending approval from the government. The education department officials' lack of action, even 52 days after the school reopening, is cited as the main reason for this ordeal. The guest teachers have not been registered in the government payroll yet, further worsening the crisis. Apart from government schools, a lot of guest teachers have been appointed in aided schools as well for the current academic year.

The decision to appoint guest teachers in aided schools was taken following the legal tangles associated with reservations for the differently-abled category. As a result, over 1000 guest teachers have been appointed in the aided schools these days, and the rest have been appointed in various government schools. 

One of the biggest challenges is that these teachers have not yet registered in the government portal ‘SPARK’ using their temporary IDs. Unitil last year, the responsibility rested with the finance department. 

Since PSC appointments were not made this year, temporary teachers were appointed in government schools by June first week. Their daily wages were set at Rs 955 (for primary school teachers), Rs 1,050 (for highschool teachers), Rs 1,205 (for higher secondary junior teachers), and Rs 1,455 (for higher secondary senior teachers).

The dearth of staff in the public education departments is said to have snail-paced the paperworks. 

The interview and appointment details, and the bank account details of the guest teachers are supposed to be uploaded from the respective schools to the SPARK portal.