Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu announced on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, that the state cabinet has approved the regularisation of eligible erstwhile Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) Trained Graduate Teachers (TGTs) against 74 existing resultant vacancies through a Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) process.

Context

The cabinet decision addresses the long-standing employment status of teachers recruited under the centrally sponsored RMSA scheme, launched in 2009 to expand access to secondary education across India. In states like Arunachal Pradesh, the scheme led to contractual appointments of TGTs to fill critical staffing gaps in remote secondary schools. These teachers have since operated in a state of employment uncertainty, awaiting formal absorption into the permanent state cadre.

Chief Minister Khandu shared the decision publicly, noting that regularisation will proceed through the established DPC route — a structured administrative mechanism used to assess and promote eligible candidates into substantive government posts.

Policy Backdrop

The regularisation of teachers hired under time-bound central schemes such as RMSA and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has been a recurring administrative exercise across multiple Indian states. The broader objective has been to convert temporary, scheme-specific appointments into permanent positions within integrated state education cadres, reducing litigation and improving teacher retention.

Arunachal Pradesh, with its remote terrain and historically acute teacher shortages, has been particularly reliant on centrally sponsored scheme staffing for its secondary schools. The subsequent transition to the Samagra Shiksha framework — which merged RMSA, SSA, and the Teacher Education scheme — has made the absorption of legacy contractual teachers an administrative priority for state governments. Cabinet-level DPC approvals are among the standard instruments used to execute such transitions.

Stakeholders and Impact

The decision directly benefits eligible RMSA TGT teachers who have served the state's secondary education system under contractual arrangements and now stand to receive permanent status. Regularisation typically brings improved job security, pay parity with permanent government teachers, and access to service benefits including pension.

Secondary school students across Arunachal Pradesh — particularly in underserved and geographically isolated areas — are also indirect beneficiaries, as permanent teacher status is associated with lower attrition and more stable classroom environments. The state's Education Department will now oversee the DPC proceedings to identify and process eligible candidates against the 74 vacancies.

What's Next

The immediate focus shifts to the rollout of the DPC process, through which the state will determine how many of the eligible erstwhile RMSA TGTs are formally regularised against the available vacancies. The exercise may also surface additional administrative questions — including whether further resultant vacancies arise from the process itself, and how the state plans to address any remaining contractual teachers not covered under the current approval.

The cabinet decision signals Arunachal Pradesh's continued effort to integrate legacy scheme-era appointments into its mainstream education cadre, a trend that is likely to continue as the state aligns its teacher workforce with the Samagra Shiksha framework's unified staffing norms.