Bihar: Teachers’ body to meet ahead of budget session over govt panel proposal

The committee has made it clear that the first competency test will be held on February 26 and after the publication of results, three more would be conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board

The teachers’ bodies and representatives in Patna will hold a meeting on Monday to decide the future course of action over the state’s education department panel’s recommendations for teachers’ appointment.

Teachers are threatening to protest against the same during the budget session. (Representative file photo)

According to the panel’s recommendations, there will be four attempts of competency test for the teachers working in schools since 2006 to be eligible for the government employee status, with a rider that passing at least one will be mandatory for continuance in service.

Teachers are threatening to protest against the same during the budget session of the Bihar legislature beginning February 12.

The committee, headed by additional chief secretary (education) KK Pathak, has made it clear that the first competency test will be held on February 26 and after the publication of results, three more would be conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board.

“If a teacher does not appear in at least three tests and does not qualify in at least one, his/her service will be terminated,” the committee has recommended, on which the government’s approval is awaited.

The new education minister, Vijay Kumar Choudhary, is set to take charge on Monday and the teachers’ body is looking forward to his views.

“It is a recommendation at this stage and the new minister has to take a view on it,” said an official.

On Sunday, several teachers held a meeting in Patna, burnt the copies of the recommendation terming it as conspiracy, vowed to boycott the test and threatened to launch protests during the budget session.

The government has initially asked the working teachers also to take the recruitment test conducted by the BPSC, but the majority of them stayed away.

The teachers’ bodies are also exploring options like approaching the court if the panel doesn’t consider their requests.

Teacher representative and JD-U MLC Sanjeev Kumar Singh said that he has already written to the chief minister that like the teachers’ recruitment test 1 & 2, conducted by the BPSC, the competency test should also be conducted offline.

“Even the Bihar board exams for around 25-lakh students are taken offline. There is no point taking online exam, and indirectly applying negative marking in the name of normalisation, which is against rules,” he added.

He wrote that the teachers who are already working for 16-17 years had taken competency test thrice in the past and now there was another rider of pay verification of December 2023 before issuance of admit cards.

“Besides, before exam, they have been asked to give three preferences for their new districts of posting. The competency test is just a qualifying test and there is no point transferring them when they are already working. There are also various other riders which seem to be solely aimed at preventing them from applying,” he wrote, seeking the CM Nitish Kumar’s intervention.

Bihar secondary teachers’ association president and former MP Shatrughan Prasad Singh also wrote to the CM and new education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary on Sunday, alleging that “difficult riders had been placed in the committee’s recommendation to simply harass and humiliate the already working teachers, contrary to CM’s announcement of a simple test and they were against the Bihar teachers’ recruitment rules, 2023”.

Bihar primary teachers’ association Brajnandan Sharma said that the government was itself violating its own rules, which clearly mentions that those teachers who would not take the competency test would remain as they are and continue in service till the age of 60 years.

“If the government tries to force it, there will be stiff resistance. We hope the government looks into the matter,” he added.

“Now, they have been asked to take online test as per the syllabus of exams conducted by BPSC earlier for fresh recruitment, though most of them may not have proficiency with computers. They will also be vulnerable to arbitrary transfers. If the conditions are not reviewed, nearly four-lakh teachers might stay away from exams to remain in the present cadre and launch protest. The assurance of simple exam should not be complicated,” wrote Singh, seeking time from CM for discussion on the matter.

Bihar’s deputy CM Samrat Choudhary assured there will be discussion with teachers’ bodies to arrive at the best possible solution in the larger interest of all.