Schoolteachers protest in front of Speaker’s residence

Hundreds of government schoolteachers from across the state staged a protest outside the residence of Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan today. The protest was organised by the Joint Teachers’ Front Punjab and the Democratic Teachers’ Front.

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The protesters criticised the government’s promotion policy, alleging discrepancies in the allocation of school stations during promotions. They highlighted that numerous stations were not being listed officially, forcing promoted teachers to accept postings away from their home districts. Many teachers who were promoted after waiting for years (from ETT to Master cadre, PTI to DPE and Master to Lecturer) were being shifted to far away stations due to lack of transparency in vacancies, alleged the protesters.

They also raised concerns about salary cuts for physical training and drawing teachers, as well as plans to merge 2,400 middle schools into high schools, which, they claim, could jeopardise the education of rural students. Teachers from meritorious schools expressed dissatisfaction over lack of regularisation of their services, while grades of C, V and C teachers were reportedly being downgraded.

The protesters demanded the restoration of the old pension scheme and reinstatement of 37 allowances, including rural allowance, which were cut earlier. They also called for the payment of three pending dearness allowance instalments and arrears spanning over five years for Punjab employees and pensioners.

The protest concluded with the teachers receiving a written assurance of a meeting with the Education Minister on January 14 to discuss their grievances and demands. The teachers vowed to continue their struggle if their issues remained unresolved.