Chennai: With a view to ensure the 1:40 teacher-student ratio in government-run schools in the state, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today directed creating about 7,000 new additional teacher vacancies.

The Chief Minister has directed creating a total of 6,872 graduate teacher vacancies in the current academic year, which would result in the government incurring an expenditure of Rs 181.36 crore annually.

A state government release here said she had also directed creating 1,590 additional post graduate teaching vacancies to cater to the said student-teacher ratio in government-run higher secondary schools. The state exchequer will incur an additional sum of Rs 45.25 crore.

Further, the government also announced hiking the monthly wages of guest lecturers in Government Arts and Science Colleges to Rs 10,000 from Rs 6,000 per month.