Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar distributes an appointment letter to a newly recruited teacher on the occasion of his birthday, in Patna on March 1, 2025.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Ahead of Bihar Assembly polls, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar celebrated his 74^th birthday on Saturday (March 1, 2025) by initiating the handover of appointment letters to contractual teachers who cleared competency tests to become government teachers.

The government has distributed appointment letters to 59,028 contractual teachers who passed the Competency Test-2 and they would be called special teachers. These teachers comprise 55,845 primary teachers, 2,532 secondary teachers and 651 higher secondary teachers.

Mr. Kumar along with Education Minister Sunil Kumar symbolically gave appointment letters to over 100 teachers in a function organised at the Chief Minister’s secretariat. All the other teachers received their appointment letter in their respective districts from the District Magistrates.

Congratulating the special teachers, Mr. Kumar asked them to discharge their duties with full responsibility.

Talking about the earlier governments under him, Mr. Kumar said: “When we got a chance to work, many steps were taken for the betterment in the field of education. In 2006-07, teachers were appointed on a large scale.”

“After 2023, an examination was conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) for the reinstatement of government teachers in which 28,000 contractual teachers also passed the examination and became government teachers. We decided that a separate examination will be conducted for contractual teachers,” the CM added.

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Earlier, 1.87 lakh employed teachers passed the first competency test. A total of 2.73 lakh contractual teachers passed the competency examinations, who have been reinstated as government teachers. Now, 86,000 contractual teachers are left who will soon be made government teachers after passing the examination. He also said that the total number of government teachers in Bihar stands at 5.8 lakh.

“Ever since I came to power, I have been working for the upliftment of all classes, be it Hindu, Muslim, forward, backward, extremely backward, Dalit and Mahadalit. I have done a lot work for the upliftment of women. Women are coming forward in all areas. A large number of women have been reinstated as teachers. Today, I want to tell all the teachers that they should teach the children well and develop them,” Mr. Kumar said.

Accompanied by both Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, Mr. Kumar urged the Education Minister to keep a constant watch on the teaching conducted in schools. The CM asserted that all the children should study diligently and everyone should take special care that the children do not face any kind of hindrance in their studies.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah wished Mr. Kumar on his birthday. Many leaders of alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also visited his official residence to wish him.

Janata Dal (United) leaders cut a cake at the party office.

“Heartiest birthday wishes to the illustrious Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar Ji. Under his leadership, the state has embarked on a new path of development. May God grant him good health and a long life,” Mr. Modi posted the message on social media platform ‘X’.

Wishing him on his birthday, Mr Shah in the message posted on ‘X’ said, “ Heartfelt birthday wishes to the Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar ji. Under your leadership, Bihar has become synonymous with NDA’s public welfare and good governance. I pray for your excellent health and long life.”

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai, Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, Maharasthra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Arunachal Pradesh CM Prema Khandu, Union Minister Chirag Paswan and many other leaders wished him.

Even Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav also wished him on his birthday.