Teacher unions to hold protest rally in Anandpur Sahib on January 19
Teachers working in the primary department, who are entitled to departmental promotions (from ETT to Master cadre, PTI to DPE, and Master to Lecturer), have repeatedly protested against the government’s apathy towards them. They had alleged they were not only being deprived of promotions but were also being shifted to faraway stations due to a lack of transparency in vacancies by the Punjab Government and the Education Department. The Democratic Teachers Front and Joint Teachers’ Front have strongly opposed the department’s promotion policy and announced they would continue the struggle against it.
Democratic Teachers Front district president Daljit Singh Samrala and district general secretary Harjit Singh Sudhar condemned the authoritarian policies of the department and said the hypocrisy of the Punjab Government, which had promised to bring revolutionary changes in the field of education and health, had been exposed.
Senior vice president Davinder Singh Sidhu, vice president Gurdeep Singh Heran, and district press secretary Hoshiar Singh alleged that the Punjab Government had decided to merge about 2,400 middle schools into high schools under the New Education Policy, 2020, due to which the future of needy students of rural areas had been threatened. They said that 800 primary schools had already been closed. The teacher leaders strongly condemned the promotion policy and said that instead of giving promotions to teachers, punishments were being handed out. He said that earlier, while promoting lecturers from master cadre, teachers were forced to take up stations in schools of eminence and then in district educational institutions, after which they were forced to take up stations in schools with a large number of students.
District organising secretary Gurpreet Singh Khanna and district finance secretary Gurbachan Singh strongly condemned the verbal promotion policy of the department and said that vacant posts in high and middle schools in rural areas had been hidden. They said that teachers who had been serving in the department for more than two decades were at the receiving end. Apart from this, they claimed there was a delay in withdrawing the salary cut letter of the teacher leaders who participated in the February 16 protest last year. They also said that there was a delay in regularising computer teachers, office workers, and meritorious schools and teachers of these schools in the Education Department at full pay scales.
Khanna said during the next phase of the struggle, a protest would be held at Anandpur Sahib on January 19, which would be followed by a march. He urged fraternal organisations to support them in their fight for justice.
