But while Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall said the hiring followed an increase in demand, the government has been criticised by the opposition, who claim the previous cuts to teaching staff was too great.

Mr Marshall, who is also the Assistant Skills Minister, announced TAFE NSW would hire more than 200 teachers throughout the state.

“[That] includes approximately 30 teaching positions spread across the New England region and North West of NSW,” he said.

Mr Marshall said because enrolments had increased, so had the demand for front-line educators.

“TAFE NSW enrolments have skyrocketed, with enrolments 122,000 higher in October 2016, compared to the same time in 2015,” Mr Marshall said.

“The recruitment drive is a clear sign that the demand for skills-based TAFE courses is continuing.”

Mr Marshall said the new One TAFE model, which consolidates 10 separate TAFE institutes into one, would ensure more taxpayer dollars were directed into frontline learning.

However, Shadow Skills Minister Prue Car said the 200 teaching jobs the government was putting back into TAFE, was a “drop in the ocean”.

Ms Car said since 2012, the Liberals had cut 5200 teaching and support roles, which meant only four per cent of those roles were being restored.

Re-hiring staff the government had sacked less than four years ago was a “false economy” and “smacks of policy on the run”, Ms Car said.

“Replacing just four per cent of the jobs that they cut state-wide is an acknowledgement by this government that it has made a terrible mistake,” Ms Car said.

She said it was a startling admission that the government’s cuts to TAFE were too deep and wide, and had hurt TAFE and the students who rely on it to get a qualification.

“This is a drop in the ocean,” she said.

“A few teaching jobs is not going to repair the damage that this government has wreaked on TAFE with staff cuts, campus closures and fee hikes.”

The decision to hire more teachers follows Mr Marshall’s announcement in November, when Armidale was named as the new headquarters for TAFE NSW's Digital Education hub.