U.P.: Teacher aspirants protest outside minister’s residence in Lucknow

Uttar Pradesh basic education minister Sandeep Singh seeks 20-day time, assures them to take a decision in their favour

Hundreds of candidates, who did not make the cut in the appointment of 69,000 assistant teachers, gathered outside the official residence of minister of state (independent charge) for basic education Sandeep Singh in Lucknow and staged a protest there on Monday.

Later, a delegation of protesters met the minister and shared their problems with him. (Sourced)

The candidates accused the state government of discrimination against the reserved category. Later, a delegation of protesters met the minister and shared their problems with him. Singh sought 20-day time from them. He also assured the group that a decision in their favour will be taken to pave way for their appointment.

The protest will continue in Eco Garden Lucknow, said Vijay Yadav, one of the protesters. Other protesters, including Amarendra Patel, Raj Bahadur, Annu Patel, who were also part of the delegation pleaded the minister to look into their matter.

A woman candidate from Firozabad said injustice was meted out to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates. In the past, the backward commission had also observed that reservation rules were not properly adhered to, the candidates claimed.

Now, the high court (Allahabad) has said that reservation rules were not followed in the selection process, they further claimed. In the past, Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav, in a couple of tweets in Hindi, had said, “Where there is no right to protest for one’s rights, everyone has to come forward to revive that democracy. Now Dalit-backward youths have understood both the thinking and conspiracy of the BJP regarding reservation. The BJP should remember that youths have the power to change the era.”

On March 13, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court directed the state government to prepare a revised list of 69,000 assistant teachers issued on June 1, 2020 as the authorities concerned committed irregularities in fixing the quota for their appointment.

These assistant teachers were selected through the Assistant Teachers Recruitment Examination (ATRE) 2019. The court also quashed the select list of 6,800 teachers issued by the state government on January 5, 2022.