Union protests lathicharge on teachers in Ropar

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 2

A number of teachers today protested and burnt the effigy of the state government in a protest against the lathi-charge on the SSA/RMSA teachers in Ropar during their state rally on Monday. The protestors also demanded that all those eight teachers, who were sent to jail and booked under different sections of the Indian Penal Code, should be set free without any conditions and the case against them should be cancelled.

It’s noteworthy that on Sunday, the SSA (Sarv Sikhya Abhiyan) the RMSA teachers held a protest march against the state government demanding the regularisation from state government.

President of the SSA Rashtriya Madhmik Shiksha Abhyan Bathinda, Beant Singh, said, “The teachers who were booked and sent to jail, should be freed as the protest is a right of every citizen. It’s shameful that the teachers who light the world, are being beaten by the police and the state government. Many teachers were injured in the state-level rally in Ropar district during the cane-charge by the police. The government has made a policy that after three years, the government employees would be regularised but we had been working for about six years and had not been regularised.”

“Earlier, we had met the Education Minister, Punjab, who claimed that the Chief Minister could only solve our problem and the SSA RMSA teachers had only demanded the meeting with the Punjab Chief Minister who is bound to listen its citizens. We had demand of regularisation and there are about 10,000 teachers under the SSA RMSA across the state while 450 total teachers in the Bathinda district are getting salaries with 65: 35 ratio of the Centre and the state government. The teachers working under the RMSA are well-qualified with BA, BED, MA, MPhil but were not regularlised by the stat government. The CSR service rules to regularise the teachers should be implemented as the regular teachers get Medical facility and leave but we are getting only fifteen leaves in a year. The distinction should be brought to end and the teachers should be made regularised, said president of the association, Beant Singh.