JAIPUR: In a “drastic step” to minimise eve-teasing in Rajasthan schools, state education minister Govind Singh Dotasra has decided to recall male teachers aged below 50 years from all government girls schools, forcing experts to term the move “regressive” and “immature”.Speaking to reporters at bypoll-bound Mandawa in Jhunjhunu district on Friday, Dotasra said priority will be given to field women teachers in all girls schools, while male teachers above 50 years will be deployed only on a need basis.Later in the day, he tweeted: “I have sought the data (on male teachers) from all girls schools, the decision will be implemented, only if we have required number of teachers.”Sources said the minister may have been prompted to take the step after a number of harassment cases involving male teachers had surfaced recently.As per the Rajasthan government’s education report for 2018-19, the state has just 1,019 girls schools while the rest 68,910 are co-ed. The ratio of male and female teachers is almost 2:1 in a pool of 3.82 lakh teachers. It means female teachers are present in almost all the 69,929 schools, contradicting the minister’s assertion that girl students are safe only in all-female schools.Former UNICEF policy planner KB Kothari, reacting to the move, said, “The state has neither diagnosed the problem, nor is the treatment on [proper] line. Removing male teachers below 50 from just 1,019 girls schools is an easy achievable task. But the move will spark fear among the parents and girl students who are enrolled in the rest 95% of schools.”Shocked by the announcement, head of department of Sociology, Rajasthan University Rashmi Jain said, “Is the minister saying that harassment cases happen only in girls schools? I feel this is an attempt to create a new cardre of schools which will be run only by females.”