Kerala minister Sivankutty forgot assurances to management of aided Christian schools: Archbishop Tharayil

NEW DELHI: Changanassery Archbishop Thomas Tharayil on Thursday claimed that Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty appears to have forgotten the assurances given by him to the Christian management regarding the appointment of teachers in their schools in the general category. The Archbishop also claimed that the recent Supreme Court verdict regarding appointments in Nair Service Society (NSS) schools did apply to the similarly placed Christian-aided institutions, a contention which has been rejected by the minister.

Archbishop Tharayil, while speaking to reporters, said he does not know why the government is obstructing the appointments in the general category in aided schools run by Christian managements by claiming that the apex court decision was only applicable to NSS schools. He further said that he and several others went and met Sivankutty a year ago and submitted their requests.

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Archbishop questions delay in teacher appointments

"He agreed to consider our requests. Has he forgotten what he said back then? I do not know what happened," the Archbishop said. His remarks come in the wake of Sivankutty on Tuesday asking managements of aided schools not to mislead the public regarding the appointment of differently-abled candidates to teaching and non-teaching posts.

The minister had also claimed that only a handful of managements were reporting vacancies and that others should explain why vacant posts were not being filled. He had also said that the General Education Department will examine how many vacancies remain unreported by various managements and identify those "deliberately withholding such information", and further action will be taken accordingly.