MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday (September 22) has directed the Secretary and Director of the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department to file their responses to a petition challenging the department’s order fixing the number of graduate teachers at five in Adi Dravidar welfare schools without taking student strength into consideration.

A Bench comprising Justices CV Karthikeyan and Sakthive issued this direction on a petition filed by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Teachers' and Warden's Federation, along with Kalaichelvan and Vijayakanth.

The petitioners contended that though there were 108 high schools, 98 higher secondary schools and 99 middle schools under the control of the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department in Tamil Nadu, there is shortage of graduate teachers for Classes VI to X, which affected the quality of education provided to students.

They also claimed that several schools did not have office staff, forcing teachers to perform administrative duties as well.

The petitioners contended that in June, the Director of Adi Dravidar Welfare fixed the number of graduate teachers at five in each school without taking student strength into consideration.

The government informed the court that steps were being taken to appoint permanent teachers to address the shortage.

Taking note of the submission, the Court directed that the response and adjourned the case to October 12.