The government action that comes in the wake of completion of the first two of the three stages of the Adult Education programme in the State has virtually rendered jobless the entire bunch of the staff employed under the programme, who include programme officers, clerks and peons, besides B.Ed-trained teachers who had been recruited as supervisors way back in 1978.

``We have just completed the total literacy campaign (TLC) and the post-literacy campaign (PLC). Now, we are on the verge of launching a third and final phase -- the continuing education programme -- for which we do not require the services of these employees,'' a senior bureaucrat told Express Newsline on Sunday.

The development has put the government in a quandary, for it is already confronted with the problem of increasing number of unemployed PTC-trained teachers in the state. The BJP rulers have evolved Vidhya Sahay Yojana (renaming Shankarsinh Vaghela's Balguru Yojana) to recruit about 20,000 unemployed PTC-passed in primary schools throughout the state.

``The issue of retrenchment of over 100 BEd teachers employed as supervisors under the Adult Education programme has been agitating my mind since the issuance of notices to them last week. I will discuss this with Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and Minister of State for Education Anandiben Patel and request them if the BEd teachers, too, could be accommodated in primary schools under the Vidhya Sahay Yojana,'' Minister of State for Adult Education told the Express Newsline.

However, as pointed out by a senior official, it may not be that easy for the government to re-employ retrenched BEd teachers under the Vidhya Sahay Yojana, for several other unemployed youth with BEd degrees, will also stake their claim for recruitment under the government's ambitious scheme.

A total of 417 people had been recruited, on fixed salaries, under the State Adult Education Programme and the Rural Functioning Literacy Programme.

Now that the state has completed the two of the three stages under these two schemes, the government has decided to retrench them from the services.

A senior official said the total literacy campaign (TLC) was already completed in all the 19 districts of the State, while post-literacy campaign (PLC) was over in 15 of the 19 districts.

Under the adult education programme, till now nearly 30 lakh new literates have been created, as against 39 lakh illiterates identified in a state-wide survey conducted by the then government in 1991.

The nine lakh illiterates left out will now be covered under the third phase of the Centre-sponsored continuing education programme, for which the Centre will provide about Rs 44 crore for three years. The plan is to set up at least 11,000 centres all across the state, with estimated expenditure of Rs 40,000 on each centre.

The government has also decided to constitute a 23-member State Literacy Mission Authority headed by either the chief minister or the education minister to enhance the literacy programme to ensure that the "new literates" created under the adult education project become self-reliant earning their livelihood on their own.