The state school education department on January 3, 2026 issued an official government resolution (GR) approving 4,860 sports teachers’ posts at the central- or cluster- school level across Maharashtra. The move intends to strengthen sports education within the public school system, and has been taken in line with revised staffing norms notified by the department.
As per the GR issued on January 3, one sports teacher’s post has been sanctioned per group resource centre or central school. As per an earlier GR dated August 21, 2025, a restructuring exercise was carried out resulting in the state currently having 4,860 group resource centres or central schools in operation. This made it possible to formally create an equal number of sports teachers’ posts. At the same time, the state government has also sanctioned 4,860 special teachers’ posts at the central level for teaching students with disabilities. This decision follows an earlier GR issued on October 8, 2024, which provided for one special teacher at each group resource centre or central school for instructing children with disabilities. With this, two separate central-level teacher cadres have been created, each comprising 4,860 posts.
However, the school education department has made it clear that the total number of sanctioned foundational teaching posts under Zilla Parishads cannot be exceeded under any circumstances. Taking this constraint into account, the government has reconfirmed the total number of foundational primary teaching posts across all Zilla Parishads in the state as 236,288. The two new central-level cadres have been created within this fixed limit.
The GR issued on January 3 further states that staffing norms were revised through a government resolution dated March 15, 2024, under which a provision for appointing one sports teacher at the central level was introduced. Based on these revised norms as well as the revised structure of group resource centres, the state undertook a review of Zilla Parishad staffing and finalised the district-wise distribution of posts. Accordingly, Pune district will have the highest number of sports teachers with 306 such posts sanctioned. Ratnagiri district will get 251 posts, Ahilyanagar 246, Nashik 244, Raigad 228, and Satara 223. By contrast, Bhandara district will get the lowest number of sports teachers at 60, followed by Hingoli at 68, Washim at 71, and Dharashiv at 80.
The government also acknowledged that in some years, certain districts may temporarily have a higher number of available posts than the sanctioned limit based on annual staffing approvals. In such situations, the education commissioner has been authorised to temporarily adjust posts from other districts. However, such adjustments must strictly remain within the overall state-level limit of sanctioned foundational posts.
The latest GR further clarifies that separate point roster registers must be maintained at the Zilla Parishad-level for both central-level sports teachers and central-level special teachers with a view to ensure transparency and compliance with recruitment and reservation rules.