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Journalism of Courage
To avoid departmental action, protesting Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Jalandhar teachers have decided to take an extra hour of classes daily with only four months left for final exams. Around 8,800 SSA and RMSA teachers have been protesting for the past three weeks across Punjab, with many of them sitting on fast unto death in Patiala.
“We are protesting only after the school timing. But, the government is still alleging that due to our protest, the studies are getting affected,” said Gurpreet Singh, Jalandhar district president of SSA union, adding, “To avoid any controversy over this, we have decided to take an extra hour of classes every day after the regular school timing.”
Teachers are protesting at all the places where ministers, Congress MPs, MLAs or leaders go, besides in front of their houses, against their recent regularisation, as per which their initial pay scale will be around Rs 15,000 per month, against their present monthly income of Rs 42,800, along with a three-year probation. It is only after the probation that they will get their full salary.
Government had asked these teachers to either get regularised as per the government salary norms or stay with their previous employer (SSA/ RMSA). Around 1,800 teachers out of 8,800 have opted to become regular teachers with the Punjab government on this condition.
MHRD objected to appointment process 5 yrs ago: Teachers
As the previous SAD-BJP government in Punjab had appointed these teachers by creating SSA/ RMSA societies, the protesters said that they are already teaching in government schools on contract basis, but the latter is not accepting them as their contractual employees. They said that even the central government had advised the state five years back against their appointment through a letter dated March 4, 2013. The letter from Human Resources Development Department (MHRD) said, “It is found that in Punjab, a separate SSA cadre of contractual teachers has been created, for whom different service arrangements have been spelt out and they are posted only in SSA schools. This is an erroneous phenomenon. All schools receiving SSA funding are schools of the state government, and so are all the teachers. SSA is only a programme providing additional funding to the state for elementary education development and reform.” The letters also say that the state is advised to kindly desist from creating any analogous situation on this account.
