Members of Gujarat State School Management Association (GSSMA) organised a meeting on Wednesday to oppose a recent notification by the state education department. On February 11, the department had issued a notification stating that the power of appointing staff has been withdrawn from school managements.

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The recruitment of teachers would now be done by the recruitment board under the chairmanship of CV Som, commissioner of schools.

More than 7,000 school trustees of grant-in-aid schools from all over the state were present at the meeting. PK Lahiri, former chief secretary of state was the chief guest at the event. 

Speaking to DNA, Ambubhai Patel, president of GSSMA said, "Since 1950, the school managements have the authority to appoint teachers and the responsibility to run schools. If the education department recruits teachers, it is like snatching our freedom." The Supreme Court had ruled that the enrolment of teachers is to be managed by school managements which the education department is not following, he added.

According to Patel, GSSMA has appealed in the high court against the notification. The hearing is scheduled on July 12.

He added, "In this meeting, we are going to decide our future action plan if the high court decision is not in our favour."

Earlier the government had argued that grant-in-aid schools used to appoint teachers who were relatives of school trustees. The notification was issued to curb such corrupt practices.