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Ludhiana: ETT qualified teachers stage protest outside closed education department office
The ETT qualified teachers were scheduled to receive their appointment letters on Saturday, but were asked to return due to unavailability of staff; matter resolved
Were were scheduled to receive their appointment letters on Saturday, but were asked to return due to unavailability of staff; matter resolved
High drama was witnessed outside the Ludhiana deputy commissioner’s office at mini secretariat after at least 300 elementary teacher training (ETT) qualified teachers, who were scheduled to receive their appointment letters on Saturday, were asked to return due to unavailability of staff.
Angered over the response, the ETT job aspirants staged dharna outside the office of deputy commissioner and accused the district education officer (DEO) of causing unnecessary harassment.
They said while joining letters were offered across the state, the education department office in Ludhiana remained closed.
Gulshan Kumar, a primary schoolteacher, said the education department through a message had asked all the selected candidates to report at their respective district education department offices and receive their joining letters and places of posting on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
“But when we arrived here today, the education department office was closed. This caused a lot of anxiety among candidates,” he added.
Gurpreet Singh, another candidate, said it was after much struggle that the elementary teachers had managed to get a job, but often, the staff was not available despite the direction from the authorities.
However, later during the day, the matter was resolved. District education officer (DEO) Jaswinder Kaur arrived at the office and said that her office had received the order a few hours ago.
She said the entire staff has been asked to report. The documents will be compiled and it will be issued to the selected aspirants on Sunday.
On May 18, the high court had allowed the Punjab government to make appointments on 6,635 ETT posts, almost 10 months after the then Congress government had initiated the process in the run up to the assembly polls.
The advertisement was issued on July 30 for 6,635 posts and the exam was conducted in October last year.
