Patna: The Bihar cabinet has approved a new domicile policy that will give preferential treatment to state residents in school teacher recruitment, while also announcing a substantial hike in honorariums for support staff in education, health, and rural development departments.
The decision, formalised through the “Bihar State School Teacher (Appointment, Transfer, Disciplinary Action & Service Conditions) (Amendment) Rules 2025”, ensures that only candidates who have completed matriculation and intermediate from Bihar will be eligible for teacher appointments in state schools. This move is aimed at offering more opportunities to Bihar’s youth, Cabinet Secretariat Department Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) S Siddharth said during a post-cabinet briefing.
The policy will be implemented in the Teacher Recruitment Examinations (TRE-4 and TRE-5) scheduled for 2025 and 2026 respectively.
Under the new rules, 85% of positions will be effectively reserved for those originally from Bihar, with only 15% remaining open to candidates from outside the state. However, Siddharth noted that due to the qualification criteria, around 98.5% of the selected candidates are likely to be state residents.
The move follows Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s directive to prioritise locals in public sector recruitment. “Since 2005, our government has worked to improve the education system in Bihar. We have appointed teachers in large numbers and will continue to do so with a focus on our state’s youth,” Kumar said in a social media post on Monday.
The state had earlier approved 35% reservation in all government jobs exclusively for women from Bihar, a policy in place since 2016.
Salary hikes for cooks, health and sanitation workers
In another key decision, the cabinet approved an across-the-board increase in honorariums for support staff in various departments.
Midday meal cooks — around 2.18 lakh in number — will now receive Rs 3,300 per month, up from Rs 1,650. The hike will cost the state Rs 252.84 crore for the remainder of the current fiscal.
Night watchmen in secondary and higher secondary schools will see their monthly pay rise from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. Physical education and health instructors will now receive Rs 16,000 per month, up from Rs 8,000, with their annual increment raised from Rs 200 to Rs 400.
The cabinet also approved a tripling of monthly incentives for ASHA workers — key community health volunteers — from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000. Mamata workers, who promote maternal and child health, will now receive Rs 600 per delivery, up from Rs 300.
In the rural development sector, part-time sanitation workers will receive Rs 5,000 per month, while sanitation supervisors will get Rs 9,000.
These announcements follow earlier declarations by Chief Minister Kumar regarding improved compensation for ground-level staff across sectors.
New deadline for DBT-based benefits
The cabinet also approved a change in the reference date to determine eligibility for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes linked to school attendance, including scholarships, uniforms, and bicycles. The new window for achieving 75% attendance will be from April 1 to July 31 — a shift from the previous cut-off of September 30.
