‘Thought I had a stable job’: An unhappy Teachers’ Day for thousands of men and women in Chhattisgarh

In its ruling, the Chhattisgarh HC quashed last year’s notification from the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) requiring primary teachers to have a B.Ed degree and held that Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed) was the qualification needed for the position.

The court rulings meant that 2,897 B.Ed teachers from appointed last year would stand annulled.

Last Thursday, several teachers travelled over 150 km from Kanker to the state capital Raipur in an attempt to save their jobs and met Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, who promised to do “whatever he could” within the law.

“The government hired a big lawyer but the verdict was not as expected. The CM said that we are with our youth. We will try whatever is possible within the constitutional limits,” one source said.

According to Shashank Shekhar Jha, who represented one of the B.Ed teachers in the SC, the court asked the Chhattisgarh government to employ B.Ed teachers in schools that taught students from Classes 6 to 12, but the state is yet to respond.

“One of the petitions of the state is still pending before the Supreme Court. So, maybe the state can make the submission and absorb the B.Ed teachers into high schools,” Jha said.

But time’s running out for many teachers. Shashank Shekhar says it was his government job as a teacher that had played a major role in his getting married this March. It was also on this assurance that he left his job as a teacher at an English medium school in Kawardha and moved his family to Kanker.

“I took out a loan for marriage and we had to demolish our old house. I thought I would make a new house but now I’m wondering if I would have the money to pay even the house rent,” he says.

For Tumeshwari Singhram from Balod, the development has come as a double blow. She left her job as teacher in her hometown and also forwent teaching job at a government middle school to take up an employment as an assistant teacher at Kanker’s Singarwahi government upper primary school.

“I’m staying on rent and working. I urge the government to employ us in middle schools,” says the 26-year-old, tears running down her face.

For breadwinners, the development deals a major blow.

A teacher at a government primary school in Jharipara, Rakesh had taken a loan of Rs 9.50 lakh at a 14 percent interest after he landed the job last year to pay for his sister’s wedding and build a new house. But now facing the bleak prospect of job loss, the 30-year-old wonders how he would support his parents and a younger sibling.

The future frightens him, he says. “I thought I had a stable job,” he says.

Neelam Madavi wonders how she will pay for her younger sister’s education. The oldest of three sisters, the 24-year-old gave up a chance at joining the police force last October when took up a teaching job at a government school in Sarvandi instead of preparing for the constables’ recruitment exam.

Now, she wonders at the wisdom of her choice.

“I urge the government not to remove us from our jobs,” she says.