Five years since the Kerala High Court directive to create a cadre of high school English teachers, the government has not budged on making permanent teacher appointments.

Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) rank-holders allege their lists, even the ones extended by the United Democratic Front government, will expire soon. The rank-holders’ list for Kottayam expires next month, followed by the one in Malappuram district. In Idukki and Ernakulam, the lists will expire in November.

Language subject

It was in 2021 that the High Court directed the government to consider English as a language subject instead of a core subject and determine teaching posts based on periods. This came to one English teacher post for 15 periods a week.

Prior to it, English was considered a core subject, and a post of high school English teacher was sanctioned in schools that had a minimum of five divisions across Classes VIII, IX, and X. This meant that in a school with four English divisions across these classes, there would be no teacher with the prescribed qualification to teach English; other subject teachers would teach students the language. Amendments made to Kerala Education Rules (KER) in 2002 for considering English a language subject had not been implemented for nearly 20 years.

On a temporary basis

When no action was taken by the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) governent to implement the High Court order, a contempt of court case was filed in 2022. The proceedings dragged on. In 2024, the court gave the government four weeks to comply with the judgment. Some months later, the government issued an order that high school English teacher posts be created in government and aided schools on a temporary basis and teachers appointed on daily wages.

Without permanent appointments, those who were included on PSC rank-lists were left in the lurch. Nearly 650 high schools in the State do not have permanent high school English teachers, say English teachers.

Their hopes, and that of students and their parents, rest on a High Court hearing scheduled for August 18, 2026. In a previous hearing in July, the government pleader had sought time to get instructions from the government on the issue since it was a policy matter, say the rank-holders.

Published - August 11, 2026 08:32 pm IST