Chennai: In a move to strengthen sports education and encourage participation in tournaments among students, Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) will appoint 141 temporary physical education teachers (PETs) across its middle and high schools for the 2026-27 academic year.GCC runs 30 middle schools, 46 high schools, and 35 higher secondary schools. Out of the 159 PETs required in these schools, only 40 are filled with permanent staff. The gap is to be bridged by temporary staff, for whose salaries the corporation has allocated ₹3.18 crore. “A total of 69 teachers will be deployed to middle schools, and 72 to high and higher secondary schools,” said a GCC official.“There is a lot of sports talent in GCC schools. We want to improve the participation of students in sports and in state-level competitions,” said an official, adding that the civic body has been addressing the shortage of PETs since last year.“We have written to the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) to fill the remaining vacancies with permanent staff,” said GCC commissioner G S Sameeran.Teachers welcomed the decision but said that sports infrastructure must be improved too.
