Jharkhand para-teachers up in arms again for their demand of regularisation, wage fixation

Jharkhand para teachers are again up in arms over the issues of the their regularisation and wage fixation. The teachers, under the banner of Ekikrit Para Sikshak Sangharsh Morcha (EPSSM), have started taking out protest marches in the state and they claimed it to be continued till the government meets their demands.

“After the 63-day long strike, which ended on January 3, the government had promised to set up a committee to consider our demands. The committee was set up and it also visited several states to study the para-teachers’ regularisation model. But, more than 240 days have passed, nothing has been done till date,” said EPSSM member Sanjay Dubey.

He said they were forced to go on war path again. “It is alleged that we affect students’ education by organising protests. This is why, we have decided not to disturb the students’ education. We held rally on Sunday and it would continue after the school hours at regular intervals,” he said.

Dubey added they have called a state level meeting on September 1 to chalk out a strategy for the agitation.

Over 50,000 teachers from across the state went on strike from November 16 last year in support of their demand. The strike, which had impacted classes in about 35,000 schools, had come to an end after 63-day on January 3 this year after government deciding to increase remuneration of para-teachers up to Rs 4,800 and study regularisation system of other states.

Thereafter, state education department set up a committee to review the possibility of para-teachers’ regularisation and pay scale fixation. Separate teams were sent to Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal for the study.

Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) officials said, the teams have submitted their reports to the education department.

“The study reports have been submitted. The reports would be discussed in a meeting to take further action. A file has been forwarded to the department for fixation of date for the meeting,” JEPC administrative officer Jayant Mishra said.

He said the meeting was expected to be held in a week or two.

HIGHLIGHTS

Number of schools: 35,000 (approx)

Total teachers: 1.10 lakh teachers

Para-teachers: 65,000

Para-teachers went to strike: Nov 16

Strike ends: Jan 3

Teachers remuneration increased after strike: Up to 4,800

Teams sent to different states to study para-teacher model: June 10

Para teachers’ major demands: Wage fixation and regularization of their services