Teachers’ body to launch agitation in support of various demands

From a Correspondent

Doomdooma, Feb 14: In the aftermath of striking down the Assam Non-Provincialized Schools  (Provincialization of posts) Act, 2011 by the  Gauhati High Court as ‘unconstitutiol’, the State Government has done little to remove the uncertainty that looms large over the fate of thousands of school teachers of the State.

Although the State Government had provincialized a few schools in 2013, yet it did not provincialize the posts of many school teachers.  No doubt the State Government had devised a norm to recognize those schools which have completed 10 years and six years of existence respectively since their establishment between 2003 to 2006. According to this criterion, 1,355 posts of 134 schools in the 10-year existence category and 5,107 posts in 420 schools in the six-year existence category were declared eligible by the State Government. Even after that the government did not take any steps to provincialize those posts. Worst still, the government did not offer any fincial assistance to the non-provincialized schools during the last two years.

The teachers of these institutions have to spend their days amid great uncertainity. Further, the recommendation of Sixth Pay Commission has put the graduate teachers at par with fourth grade employees, which is highly objectioble and derogatory to the status of graduate teachers. The Seventh Pay Commission, too, has kept the recommendations of the previous pay commission ultered in spite of stiff opposition from the teachers’ body.

The Assam High School Teachers’ Association (AHSTA), Tinsukia District committee, in a statement to the press, stated that they were not much hopeful about the State Education Minister’s white paper to be published on February 28 and the proposed amended Act to be declared on March 2. In the meanwhile, AHSTA will stage an agitation programme on February 22 at Dispur Last Gate in support of their charter of demands for provincialization of all recognized schools, provincialization of additiol posts, music and craft teachers’ posts, besides upgradation of graduate teachers from Pay band 2 to Pay band 3 category. Moreover, on March 1 they will go on fast in the same place. Kushal Kumar Saikia and Pradip Saikia, president and secretary respectively of AHSTA, Tinsukia District Committee, further appealed to all the teachers to extend their cooperation to make the agitation programme a success.