Srinagar: The School Education Department (SED) has amended the government order to remove the ambiguity and streamline the recruitment of AAYA helpers in the school under Early Childhood Care Education (ECCE).
The amendments were made after the department received several representations from Chief Education Officers (CEOs) in which they raised their queries that sub-clause (iv) of Clause C under ‘Qualification’ and ‘Preference’ of the recruitment order was quite ambiguous and vague due to which the selection of AAYAs becomes extremely difficult “if candidate out of first two criteria is not found and requested to spell this out clearly.”
The recruitment order in question was issued by J&K Samagra Shiksha (Society) on January 1, 2023, after seeking the approval of the Administrative Department for the engagement and hiring of AAYA-cum-helpers in various approved schools.
“To clarify the issue, deliberations were held in the matter with the Principal Secretary of the School Education Department (SED), officers of the Samagra Shiksha, and other field officers as well,” the fresh order reads.
After holding thorough deliberations and consideration, based on the report received from the field officers of the department and deliberations with the higher authorities, the department concluded that sub-clause (iv) of Clause ‘C’ under ‘Qualification’ and ‘Preference’ of the said order needs to be rectified.
“Given this, it is hereby clarified that the sub-clause (iv) of Clause C, qualification and preference mentioning poorest of the poor as mentioned in the Order No 07 of CHIRAG of 2023 dated January 9 of 2023, is hereby withdrawn,” the fresh government order issued by J&K Samagra Shiksha reads.
The department further said that in case no selection was made out of sub-clause (i) and (ii) of Clause C of the said order, the female belonging to the BPL category and older, but within the prescribed age limit, be considered for selection.
“The other terms and conditions of the order remain the same,” the order reads.
An official said that, as per the previous order, it was difficult to determine the “poorest of the poor” candidate for the AAYA post following which the CEOs apprised the department about the hiccups faced in the recruitment of AAYAs as per the criteria.
“Now the department has removed the ambiguity by making slight changes in the order. It will streamline the recruitment of AAYA helpers for schools with kindergarten sections,” the official said.
Notably, the AAYA workers are being recruited by the School Education Department (SED) under ECCE as the department has shifted its focus on the establishment of the kindergarten section in thousands of schools.
As per the official figures ascertained based on UDISE 2021-22, 188 educational zones are functional in 20 districts across Jammu and Kashmir of which schools in 184 zones have pre-primary sections with enrollment of five or more than five students.
Also, the department has uniformly distributed 2891 sanctioned helpers among 20 districts as per the number of education zones in J&K.