Unemployed BEd teachers demand filling of vacant posts in govt schools

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, November 30

Members of the TET Qualified Unemployed BEd Teachers’ Union staged a protest over their long-standing demands and burnt an effigy of the state government here on Saturday.

Scores of protesters gathered near Finance Minister Manpreet Badal’s office and started raising slogans. They, later, burnt effigy to express their resentment over government’s alleged ‘passive stance’.

Yudhjit Singh, president of district unit of the union, said: “On a state-wide protest call given by the union’s state body, we have staged protests in Bathinda district today. The state government’s apathetic stance will no longer be tolerated and our agitation will be intensified in the coming days.”

“There are around 30,000 posts that have been lying vacant in government schools, after 52,000 new admissions this session. Why they were not getting jobs, even when they fulfill eligibility conditions. Capt Amarinder Singh had promised a government job to one member of every family in the state. But the government has failed to fulfill the promise made before elections,” he said

“When we cleared TET, the minimum percentage criterion was 50 and 45 per cent for students belonging to the general and reserved categories. The Punjab government recently amended this fixed criteria. Now, the minimum percentage to apply for a government job is 55 per cent. This is against the Centre Government’s guidelines,” he said.

Recruitments to fill around 15,000 posts of teacher should be conducted at the earliest. This would ensure that the student-teacher ratio of 30:1 in schools is met, he said. He also criticised government’s steps to privatise schools.