The Bihar government granted “government employee” status to 4 lakh contractual school teachers working under the panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies on Tuesday.

The move, which addressed the long pending demand for contractual teachers, was approved by chief minister Nitish Kumar’s cabinet, and is expected to have wide-ranging political and financial implications.

With the Lok Sabha elections just a few months away, the decision could have a bearing on the voting pattern of the four lakh families connected to such teachers. A majority of them were recruited between 2005 and 2010 during the first full term of Nitish as the chief minister.

“The cabinet approved ‘The Bihar School Exclusive Teachers Rules 2023’ at a meeting chaired by chief minister Kumar. Under this, all teachers recruited and working in the panchayats, panchayat samiti, zila parishad and urban local bodies will be accorded the status of government employees.

“They will be designated as ‘exclusive teachers’,” state cabinet department additional chief secretary S. Siddharth said.

Siddharth added that as per the approved rules, the contractual school teachers working under the local bodies would be retained as “exclusive teachers” under their present pay scale.

“Afterwards, they will have to pass a competency test, the modalities of which will be decided by the education department. They will be given the pay scale of teachers recruited by the Bihar Public Service Commission, after qualifying in it. The contractual teachers will be provided three attempts to qualify in the examination,” Siddharth added.

The state government will take a separate decision for those who fail or do not appear in the examination.

On the other hand, the “exclusive teachers” who qualify in the examination will get opportunities for promotion also from primary (Classes I to V) to middle (Classes VI to VIII), high (Classes IX and X) and higher secondary (Classes XI and XII), every eight years.

However, the teachers also need to have suitable educational qualifications to teach in the higher classes to get promoted.

The “exclusive teachers” would have to provide options of three districts and the government will accordingly post them. Previously, the school teachers recruited and working under the panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies could not be transferred out of their respective jurisdiction.

With the change the “exclusive teachers” will start getting various allowances as given to government teachers and the facility of transfer.

The state cabinet also approved the “Bihar Tourism Policy, 2023” to encourage infrastructure construction, inclusive development and investment in the sector to promote tourism.