The Kerala government on Wednesday (February 18, 2026) announced that it will regularize around 20,000 teachers working in aided schools, subject to the final decision in the cases pending in the Supreme Court.
General Education Minister V. Sivankutty, addressing a press conference here, said the move was aimed at resolving pending legal complexities related to implementation of reservation for persons with disabilities and approval of appointments of teachers in aided schools in the state.
The important announcement comes weeks after Shivankutty told the state assembly that the LDF government is making every effort legally possible to ensure that the recent Supreme Court order regarding the appointment of general category teachers in NSS schools is applicable to all aided school managements.
This latest decision of the Left government in the election state Kerala is being considered politically important. Recently this issue had led to protests by various aided school management institutions, including Christian organisations. These organizations have accused the government of stopping the appointments of the general category on the pretext of implementing the court’s instructions.
Sivankutty said the matter pertains to implementation of four percent reservation for persons with disabilities in aided schools, as mandated under the ‘Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2017’. Earlier, there was a provision of three percent reservation under the 1996 law.
He said that legal disputes have arisen due to the delay in implementing reservation in aided schools. A single bench of the High Justice had ordered to implement reservation retrospectively from the year 1996. The government argues that doing so will adversely affect thousands of current teachers. He told that after this the state government had filed an appeal against this order.
He said that after the decision of the Division Bench, the teachers appointed after the year 2021 were allegedly made daily wages. However, in a case filed by Nair Service Society (NSS), a leading community organisation, the Supreme Court allowed the approval of appointments for the general category, but kept out the posts reserved for persons with disabilities.
The minister said the state government has filed an affidavit in the apex court requesting to extend the facility given to NSS schools to other similarly situated aided school management institutions. However, he said that the hearing of this case has been postponed till April.
