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Bihar teacher job aspirants seek TRE notification in 24 hours, threaten ‘gherao’ protest against education minister
Teaching job aspirants in Bihar began protesting on Tuesday, demanding a single-tier examination in BPSC-TRE 4.
Job aspirants in Bihar seeking timely conduct of the fourth phase of the Teachers Recruitment Exam (TRE-4) demanded that the notification for the test be announced within 24 hours, else they "may gherao the state education minister's residence for his resignation".
Research scholars and job aspirants have been protesting in Patna's Gardanibagh area over a multitude of issues, including new rules on recruitment of assistant professors and inconsistencies in the state civil services exam.
On Tuesday, teaching job aspirants began their protest, demanding a single-tier examination in BPSC-TRE 4, strict action against those who got jobs through corrupt practices, transparency in BSSC recruitments, and action against exam mafias.
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"The government should release notification for the BPSC TRE-4 exam within 24 hours. Else, we may gherao the residence of Bihar education minister seeking his resignation," student leader Dilip Kumar said.
He also threatened to go on a hunger strike if the demand was not met within three days.
Guest faculties of several universities in Bihar and PhD holders, who have been protesting at an adjacent camp at Gardanibagh for the last 15 days, demanded the resignation of Higher Education Minister Sanjay Singh Tiger and Additional Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar.
Among the protestors, Kumud Patel, who has been on a hunger strike throughout the period, said their "fight is to save Bihar's education system."
"Our two talks with the education minister and additional chief secretary failed. We submitted representations to the governor and the chief minister three days ago, and were told that action would be taken very soon, but so far no such message has come," he said.
Vibha Rani, an assistant guest professor at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University in Muzaffarpur, who was one among the delegates who met Kumar, said the "government has become rigid and is behaving like a monarch" by ignoring protesters' demands.
"We presented our six-point charter of demands before the additional chief secretary with positive rationale. But they did not show any willingness to accept our demands. They must realise that this is a democracy where the people govern. Since our demands are genuine, they must accept them. There is no alternative," she said.
Their demands include the implementation of the UGC Regulation 2018, Table 3A, in the appointment of assistant professors; raising the maximum age limit for applicants to 55 years; regularisation of assistant professor appointments; and implementation of a domicile policy, among others.
Assistant professor Kundan Singh said the government had "no answers to our questions" when we met them.
"The Bihar government should learn from the stir at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and in Jharkhand, so that this protest does not take a larger shape," Singh said.
"When teachers and students both are on the streets, it is clear that something is going wrong in Bihar's education policy. We need a meaningful dialogue with the government," he said.
