Masters’ services to be regularised

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 21

Months of angry protests and meetings by the masters who were working at a meagre salary of Rs 6,000 per month have borne fruit, with the Education Department releasing a circular of inviting cases of the masters to regularise their services.

The order has come as a Diwali gift to the teachers who were appointed masters but were getting only Rs 6,000 because of which some of them were left with no option but to do the task of daily wage workers too.

There are around 1,800 masters in the state whose services will be regularised.

Several protests and rallies were organised by the teachers under the banner of the 5178 Master Cadre Union. They all were appointed in November 2014.

Rahul Sharma, a master at Government School Kalyanpur who was recently transferred from a school in Daulatpura, said it was a great news as the order had come a day ahead of the festival.

Only we know what we went through. Getting to work at Rs 6,000 was a challenge and it was depressing too. This has become possible after numerous meetings, dharnas and requests, he said.

Sharing his past experiences of being posted at Government High School, Daulatpura, Sharma said, “Everyday I had to travel a one-side distance of 60 km. Our half of the expenses would be spent on travelling only. So, we have seen tough times.”

According to the orders of the Education Department, a special committee will be formed at the district level where district education officer (secondary) will be the chairman, while the superintendant, legal advisor and section officers will be the members. Neelam Kumari, district education officer (secondary), said there were around 150 cases in the district.

“Applications have started coming and we will check everything. We will see that those candidates against whom some inquiry is going on, are not be regularised,” said the DEO.

Inderjit Singh Malerkotla, state president of the 5178 Master Cadre Union, said now they would be earning around 50,000 per month for which they were fighting.

“We started with Rs 600 and had got Rs 500 monthly increment, so now we were earning Rs 7,000,” he said.