Punjab Govt regularises 12,710 contract teachers

Chandigarh, July 28

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today handed over the regularisation letters to as many as 12,710 contractual teachers working in government schools of the state.

The beneficiaries include ETT, NTT and BA/MA BEd qualified teachers, education providers (BA), inclusive education volunteers and employment guarantee scheme, alternative innovative education and special trainer programme teachers.

CM Mann said teachers would be given an increment of 5 per cent every year and they would be engaged in no other work except teaching. The Central Government had demanded as many as 66,000 teachers for conducting the census in the state. The Centre has been asked to enrol unemployed youth instead for the job.

The Chief Minister said the state government would soon be launching a bus service for students of government schools. The pilot project will be launched for 20,000 students — 12,000 girls and 8,000 boys. A budget of Rs 21 crore has already been passed for the scheme. The buses will be GPS enabled.

He said though the regularisation process faced legal and administrative hurdles, he was committed to regularising even a small group that was left out. “We will erase the word contractual from our administration,” he emphasised.

“Being the son of a teacher myself, I understand all their problems. Not just teachers, we will solve problem of all employees. The state exchequer belongs to the people and every single penny will be judiciously utilised for the wellbeing of every strata of society,” he said.