To include them in a caste survey, the Bihar government suspends teachers’ training programs

Following the Patna High Court’s declaration that the Bihar caste survey was “valid” and “legal” the previous day, the state administration reacted swiftly on Wednesday and halted all active teacher training programs in order to quickly complete the survey.

Director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Sajjan R, pleaded with the appropriate authorities in a letter to immediately halt all such teacher training programs.

He sent the letter to the heads of all teacher education institutions, district institutes for education and training, elementary teacher education colleges, and similar block institutes, as well as to the Bihar Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development (BIPARD-Gaya and Patna).

“All active teacher training programs throughout the state have been halted with immediate effect at the command of the state administration. The decision was made to make sure that teachers’ (including recruits’) services could be used to hasten the completion of the state’s caste census, according to the SCERT director.

He said in the letter that instructors in training are required to participate in the caste survey in addition to carrying out their regular teaching duties at their individual schools.

The current caste census in Bihar was temporarily delayed by the Patna High Court on May 4. The state administration argued that the constitution requires the gathering of caste-based statistics.

The caste survey was nonetheless recognized as “valid” and “legal” by the high court on Tuesday.

Additionally, the court had denied petitions brought up against the caste census that the state government had started in June 2022.

On January 21, the exercise’s first phase was finished. For the door-to-door survey, some 15,000 officials, including enumerators and observers, had been given varied roles.

The process will cost the state government Rs 500 crore from its contingency reserve.

The focal authority for the survey is the general administration division.