Regularisation: Over 1K teachers stand to benefit in dist

Amritsar, July 27

In a major announcement, Punjab Education Minister Harjot Bains has said that the AAP government will regularise the services of 12,500 contractual teachers in Punjab.

Taking to Twitter, Bains announced that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will issue the orders to regularise the services of 12,500 contractual teachers on July 28 in Chandigarh. The decision would impact the over 1,000 education providers (Associate teachers), IE (inclusive educators), EGS, STR, AIE, Special Inclusive Teachers (ETT, NTT & BEd) and IE volunteers, serving in Amritsar. The district has 94 resource centres, running special education programmes for children with special needs. These resource centres have an inclusive education volunteer and education provider each, while elementary schools and senior secondary schools also have deputed EPs and IEs.

“The services of teachers under specified category as announced by the minister, who have completed service up to 10 years, will be regularised under the orders. The district has more than 1,000 teachers who will be regularised and given benefits. We have already prepared a list. Further, teachers who will complete 10 years of service with the passage of time will be included under the guidelines,” said Rajesh Sharma, DEO (Elementary).

The announcement ends a long-pending wait of IEVs and special educators working in government schools in Punjab. These resource centres are the epicentre of learning, early education and to provide medical support to parents from BPL or low-income groups, who have children with special needs (CWSN). The district education department has employed 99 inclusive education volunteers (IEVs) since its launch in 2008. These IEVs include qualified special educators and resource volunteers, who as part of the Integrated Education for the Disabled (IED) under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan, are running learning programmes at these resource centres and are involved in home-based education which aims to cover the out-of-school children suffering from a severe form of disability. Currently, these IEVs get around Rs 5,000-Rs 8,000 as monthly salary. After regularisation, there will be a significant increase in salaries and other benefits.