With state elections approaching, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced a major shift in teacher recruitment policy that favors candidates who are permanent residents of the state. Speaking on Monday, he revealed that upcoming hiring rounds for government school teachers will prioritize applicants who can prove their Bihar domicile status.
He confirmed that instructions have been issued to the education department to revise the recruitment guidelines, with the updated rules set to apply starting from the upcoming Teachers’ Recruitment Examination round 4. The following round, TRE 5, is scheduled for 2026.
Although no specific quota for local candidates was mentioned, the move is expected to significantly influence the nearly 100000 teaching positions expected to be advertised in TRE 4. The official notification for this recruitment drive is anticipated within the coming days.
Historically, the state has conducted teacher hiring exams in 2011, 2019, 2020, and 2023. While the government had previously committed to holding the exam biannually from 2024 onward, that promise has yet to be fulfilled.
This new direction aligns with rising public pressure to secure government jobs for Bihar’s youth and appears aimed at countering opposition calls to implement a full-fledged domicile-based reservation system.
Interestingly, this announcement reverses a controversial decision made in June 2023 when the Bihar government eliminated the domicile requirement for teacher recruitment, triggering widespread protests. At the time, officials defended the removal, citing legal challenges tied to enforcing such a policy.
More recently, the state cabinet had also decided that only women who are permanent residents of Bihar would be eligible for positions under the 35 percent reservation for women introduced in 2016.
In related developments, Kumar last week promised increased honorariums for various support staff in schools including midday meal cooks, night watchmen at secondary and senior secondary institutions, and instructors for health and physical education.
To date, the government has filled 170000 posts through TRE 1 and 70000 through TRE 2. However, TRE 3 saw only 66603 appointments made against nearly 88000 available vacancies.
