The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the State to file a report to a public interest litigation petition that sought a direction to the authorities to appoint six BT Assistant teachers for every 150 students in the Adi Dravidar Welfare Schools.
A Division Bench of Justices C.V. Karthikeyan and R. Sakthivel was hearing a petition filed by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, Teacher Warden Federation, Madurai.
The petitioner said there are about 108 high schools, 98 higher secondary schools and 99 middle schools run by the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department. There was a shortage of BT Assistants for Classes VI to X. There are five BT Assistants for a student strength of 150 and below.
However, this is not sufficient and the teachers were forced to teach continuously without any breaks. Due to the shortage of teachers, they were unable to provide quality education in view of more responsibilities, the federation said.
The authorities ought to have seen that the teacher to student ratio should be increased to six for every 150 students and below, instead of five, as responsibilities were more. Fixing more responsibility on the teachers is only increasing the burden, and eventually resulting in a decline in the quality of education, the federation said.
In view of the dire need for teachers, the authorities ought to permit schools to make temporary appointments through school management committees, the federation said. The court sought a report and posted the matter for further hearing to October 12.
Published – September 22, 2026 09:08 pm IST
