APPENDIX R-
AGE OF RETIREMENT OF TEACHERS
 

Under the existing rules, all ministerial staff serving in offices under the administrative control of the Government of India have been permitted to continue in service till the end of their sixtieth year, except in certain cases where on grounds of efficiency the Government can retire them at the completion of the 55th year, in accordance with certain procedure fixed for the purpose. The question arose whether teachers in Government schools should ordinarily retire on attaining the age of 55 years or should be continued in service till the age of 60. As the rules stand at present, teachers do not come in within the definition of "ministerial servants" and as such, they have normally to be retired at the age of 55.

In their Report on Conditions of Service (other than Remuneration) of Teachers, the Central Advisory Board of Education recommended that 55 should be retained as the age at which a teacher could either claim to retire or be required by his employer to do so. There are obviously cases outside normal practice, which, in view of the shortage of teachers, should permit all teachers capable of rendering efficient service to continue up to the age of 60. The spirit of the Committees' recommendation appears to be that, except when a teacher wants to retire or the school requires to retire him on grounds of efficiency on his reaching his 55th year, he may continue up to the age of 60. In other words, the normal age of retirement would be 60, but 55 would be a stage where the school authorities should look into the physical fitness etc. of the teacher and retire him, if necessary. Similarly, the teacher should have the option to retire at 55.

The question is, however, one of general policy and concerns not only the Central Government but also the various Provincial Govern- ments as well as non-Government employers.

It has been felt that in view of the paucity of trained teachers and in view of the fact that the age of retirement of college teachers is generally 60, it would be desirable to get the teachers of all High, Middle and Primary Schools, excepting the Headmasters of the first two, declared as ministerial servants for the purposes of the rule relating to the age of retirement. The normal age of retirement would thus be 60 ; but a teacher may, if so desired on grounds of efficiency, physical fitness etc., be retired at 55, after he has been given a reasonable opportunity to show cause against the proposed retirement and after such representation, if any, has been fully considered. On the other hand it has been urged that demands have recently been made from various quarters that, 55 years should be made the age of compulsory retirement for all Government Servants and that it would be inadvisable to bring any more categories of officers within the purview of the term "ministerial servants." It is suggested that in cases of proved shortage of teachers, the proper thing would be to retire and re-employ experienced teachers whose services it is still found necessary to retain.

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