PANAJI
Securing the livelihoods of hundreds of contractual teaching and non-teaching staff, the Goa government on Monday decided to regularise education sector workers who have completed 10 years or more in service.
Replying to a calling attention motion moved by Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai on the unemployment situation, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told the Legislative Assembly that the Cabinet on the very same day took this decision wherein a scheme for regularisation would be prepared by October.
“The State Cabinet today (Monday) decided to regularise the services of all contractual workers in the education sector who have completed 10 years or more in service. Those employed under centrally sponsored schemes will also be considered. The scheme will be drafted by October, following which offer letters will be issued from the same month,” Sawant said.
The decision will cover contractual personnel across the education sector, including those engaged in ITIs and school counsellors. Sawant, also holding the Education portfolio, said those who have not yet completed 10 years would also be given a better pay scale, while those with five years or less service would have to wait for the regularisation process.
He further said the government intended to resolve the pending issues concerning teachers by October-November, including pay scales and job security.
Sawant also said the government had begun framing rules to regulate private school fees, acknowledging that fees charged by private schools were not adequately controlled so far. “The rules and regulations have begun... We will also decide a pay structure for pre-primary teachers from this year onwards. Give me some time,” he said. The debate was triggered by concerns over Goa’s unemployment situation, with Sardesai citing the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2025 and claiming that youth unemployment in the state stood at 8.3 percent, while the figure was higher in rural areas. “In the private sector, there is no job security and the payment is less. In the government also, there is no job security as several thousand employees are working on a contract basis with no regularisation. The work is permanent while the workers are temporary. Youth today need decent jobs, dignity and security,” Sardesai said.
RGP MLA Viresh Borkar pointed to contractual health staff and para-teachers who, he said, had continued to work for more than a decade without regularisation. He also raised concerns over delays in releasing payments and the lack of job security faced by vocational teachers and librarians.
Borkar and AAP MLA Venzy Viegas called for amendments to the Goa State Education Act to deal with the issue.
Sawant, meanwhile, rejected suggestions that teachers were among those leaving Goa after obtaining Portuguese passports to seek employment abroad.
“They must be doing some other jobs. In Goa, there are ample opportunities for teachers,” he said, adding that some Goans with Portuguese passports were now returning to Indian nationality. “People are surrendering Portuguese passports and returning to Indian nationality. I have come across two instances,” Sawant said.
