Balurghat, Sept. 14: Fresh instructions issued to the state government by the Centre have put the jobs of 267 women assistant teachers of shishu siksha kendras on the line.

The set of orders, issued this academic year, states that only women above the age of 40 and who have passed the Madhyamik examinations can be recruited as teachers or assistant teachers.

Under the rules laid down by the state for its Sarva Siksha Karmasuchi (SSK) programme, it was mandatory for teachers to have passed at least Class VIII examinations. This rule was applicable in areas where there were no women, above the age of 40, who had passed the Madhyamik exams.

South Dinajpur panchayat and rural development officer, Suraj Kundu, said 100 new teachers had been recruited under the SSA, according to the Centre’s rules in the current academic year.

“It will not be possible for us to give the women who will lose their jobs any other offer of employment,” he added.

The Centre’s Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), flagged off soon after the karmasuchi programme was launched by the Bengal government in 1999-2000, aimed at providing primary education to children between five and 14 years.

The central project also aims at helping those children, who were forced to drop out after completing primary education under the state’s project,to pursue secondary education in the institutions it has set up.

The project has now merged with the state government’s programme.

According to the rules governing the karmasuchi programme, only women above the age of 40 and who have passed the Madhyamik examinations, are eligible for a teacher’s job. The guidelines provide reservations for women from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It also mentions that physically challenged men above the age of 40 and with the same academic qualifications can also apply for the post.

The rules also specify that women above the age of 40 and who had passed Class VIII examinations were eligible to apply for the job if no one who had passed the Madhyamik exams was available in the area.

The state decided to set up educational centres in areas where there are no primary schools within a kilometre of villages where there are at least 20 children between the ages of 5 and 14. The move is aimed at giving children the opportunity to receive primary education. In a bid to make the children interested in studies, the government also launched the midday meal system.

There were 459 educational centres with 1,027 teachers in the district till the academic year ended 2002-2003. The teachers draw a salary of Rs 1,000 per month.

More than 22,000 children study in the centres and more than 730 children have joined secondary schools after passing out from these centres.