Lok Sabha Question No. 2525 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-15
Subject: Recruitment of Teachers and Restoration of Old Pension Scheme
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Ramashankar  Vidharthi Rajbhar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 2525

## ANSWERED ON- 15/12/2025

## Recruitment of Teachers and Restoration of Old Pension Scheme

†2525. Shri Ramashankar Vidharthi Rajbhar:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a)  the  current  policy  of  the  Government  on  restoration  of  Old  Pension  Scheme  (OPS)  for teachers at the Centre and in the States and the details of suggestions received and meetings held in this regard;

(b) the details of pending appointments and delay in joining of teachers in various States and non-appointment of selected candidates as per advertised posts;

(c) the present status of recruitment of 69,000 assistant teachers in Uttar Pradesh along with the number of the candidates who have been appointed so far and the number of the cases which are pending in the court or the department;

(d) whether the Government teachers are assigned to conduct elections, censuses, surveys and other non-academic tasks in addition to teaching and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the steps being taken by the Government to minimize teacher workload, establish a list of non- academic tasks and ensure quality education in the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (c): Education is a subject in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of schools  are  under  the  administrative  control  of  respective  State  and  Union  Territory Governments. The recruitment, service conditions, including pensionary benefits, deployment of teachers and court cases relating to these matters are primarily in the domain of the State/UT Government.

Pensionary  benefits  for  the  employees  of  Kendriya  Vidyalaya  Sangathan  run  by central  government  follow  the  instructions  of  the  Ministry  of  Finance  from  time  to  time. There is no proposal for the restoration of the old pension scheme for employees of KVS.

All the employees of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti who joined before 01.01.2004 are governed  under  the  Contributory  Provident  Fund  (CPF)  scheme.  Employees  who  joined Navodaya  Vidyalaya  Samiti  on/after  01.04.2009  are  compulsorily  covered  under  the  New

Pension  Scheme  (NPS).  Employees  who  joined  between  01.01.2004  and  01.04.2009,  an option was given to the employees to opt for CPF or NPS. A few employees opted on NPS scheme  while  majority  of  opted  for  CPF  scheme.  As on  date,  employees  of  Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti are covered either under the Contributory Provident Fund (CPF) scheme or the New Pension Scheme (NPS).

(d) & (e): Section 27 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 states that no teacher shall be deployed for any non-educational purposes other than the  decennial  population  census,  disaster  relief  duties  or  duties  relating  to  elections  to  the local authority or the State Legislatures or Parliament, as the case may be. The Ministry of Education has also issued guidelines to all States and UTs that emphasize that teachers should not be deployed for non-educational duties other than those which are in accordance with the RTE Act. The Government has taken and supports a range of measures to minimise teacher workload and to strengthen quality of education. These include:

· The Central Government, under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha, provides financial assistance to States/UTs for maintaining appropriate Pupil-Teacher Ratios (PTR)  and  for  teacher  related  interventions  including  in-service  training  and  institutional academic support through SCERTs, DIETs, BRCs and CRCs.

- Large-scale  teacher  capacity  building  is  being  implemented  through  NISHTHA  National Initiative for School Heads' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement (face-to-face and online on DIKSHA) which covers pedagogy, integration of ICT, competency-based learning, foundational literacy and numeracy, school leadership, health and well-being and related areas thereby strengthening classroom processes and teachers' professional capacity.
- In  terms  of  NEP  2020,  the  National  Professional  Standards  for  Teachers  (NPST) guiding  document  and  the  Bluebook  on  the  National  Mission  for  Mentoring  (NMM)  have been  issued  to  define  teacher  competencies  and  provide  mentoring  support  to  in-service teachers to improve instructional practice and reduce professional isolation.
- The  Department  periodically  issues  advisories  and  holds  review  meetings  with State/UT  Governments  to  encourage  mission-mode  recruitment  plans,  rational  deployment including  school-complex/clustering  approaches,  adoption  of  teacher-sharing  or  pooling mechanisms  where  appropriate,  and  use  of  contractual/short-term  engagements  (such  as Shiksha Mitras/Anudeshaks) as interim arrangements to safeguard academic interests. These are implemented by the respective State/UT Governments/Administrations as per their rules.
- The Department supports States/UTs in adoption of ICT platforms (DIKSHA/PM eVIDYA) and cluster-level academic support (BRC/CRC) to provide on-demand resources and pedagogical support to teachers and to mitigate the academic impact of staff shortages to the extent possible.

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