Bhopal, Oct 5 — Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has urged Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav to increase the number of teacher recruitment posts in the state and address the demands of candidates protesting over the issue.
In a letter to Yadav dated September 29, LoP Rahul Gandhi said candidates seeking teaching jobs had raised the issue with him during his recent visit to Indore.
He said the shortage of teachers in government schools was affecting the education of children in the state.
“There are already more than 1,00,000 vacant positions of teachers in the government schools in Madhya Pradesh, which is directly affecting the education of children in the state,” LoP Rahul Gandhi said in the letter.
He noted that the 2025 teacher recruitment process included 13,089 Class III and 10,800 Class II posts, but candidates were demanding an increase in the number of vacancies.
LoP Rahul Gandhi said many candidates had secured good marks in the recruitment examination and several were working as guest teachers. However, he said they were unable to secure permanent jobs because of the limited number of posts.
He also raised the issue of candidates who had crossed the prescribed age limit while waiting for recruitment opportunities.
LoP Rahul Gandhi questioned the need for candidates to stage protests and hunger strikes to press their demands and alleged that notices were being issued to some protesting candidates instead of resolving their grievances.
He urged the Chief Minister to withdraw the notices issued to the protesting candidates and take steps to address their demands.
LoP Rahul Gandhi also sought the immediate commencement of promotions and a second round of counselling for Class II and Class III teacher recruitment.
According to LoP Rahul Gandhi, candidates had told him that the Madhya Pradesh Education Department had approved more than 1.15 lakh teacher posts. In comparison, only around 15,000 posts were being filled under the current recruitment process.
The letter comes amid the Congress party's efforts to raise issues related to education, employment and recruitment in Madhya Pradesh and target the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government.
The state government's response to LoP Rahul Gandhi’s allegations was not immediately available.
However, Deputy Chief Minister Jagdish Devda, when asked about LoP Rahul Gandhi’s letter to the Chief Minister regarding teacher recruitment and promotions, said he was not aware of it.
“I have not seen that letter. I will speak on the matter only after seeing the letter,” Devda told IANS.
LoP Rahul Gandhi had last month also written to Yadav seeking resolution of pending appointments of OBC candidates under the state's 27 per cent reservation policy.
In that letter, he referred to his recent ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme in Indore, saying students had raised issues related to education, employment and their future.
He had then mentioned that pending appointments under the OBC quota had emerged as a major concern and urged the Chief Minister to resolve the issue.