Fate of teachers in 500 venture primary schools of Assam still uncertain

A CORRESPONDENT

LAKHIMPUR: Though the State Government has regularized the jobs of thousands of teachers teaching in the venture schools and colleges across the State by enforcing the Assam Education (Provincialization of Services of Teachers and Re-Organization of Educational Institutions) Act, 2017, the fate and future of teachers teaching in more than 500 venture primary schools of the State is still hanging in uncertainty. These schools are the 'Issue Date Victim' as per the Act due to which the teachers of these schools are still unable to get their jobs regularized.

Notably, the Assam Education (Provincialization of Services of Teachers and Re-Organization of Educational Institutions) Act, 2017 is an Act to provincialize the services of the teachers of the Venture Educational Institutions and also to re-organize and streamline the educational institutions up to degree level in the State, so as to conform to the prevailing statutory norms and standards with a further objective to restrict any further growth of such venture educational institutions in the State. Under this Act, the venture educational institutions which have been established and had obtained the required permission, recognition, affiliation, concurrence, as the case may be, up to the last and highest class, required for the institution concerned from the respective competent authority or authorities on or before January 1 of 2006, were provincialized. The order for such permission, recognition, affiliation, concurrence must be issued on or before January 1 of 2006 and any order issued thereafter with any retrospective effect, will not be considered for the purpose of provincialization of services of any teacher and tutor, as the case may be, of the institution.

Despite such circumstances, many venture High Schools, Higher Secondary Schools and colleges of the State, which did not fulfill any of the criteria, were brought under the process of provincialization by amending the some sections the Act concerned in 2018. But no amendment was processed in order to provincialize the 'Issue Date Victim Lower Primary Schools' till date. Notably, though the recognized date of these over 500 Primary Schools is on or before January 1 of 2005, the Issue Date of these schools is after January 1 of 2006, and therefore, these schools were could not be brought under the process of provincialization as per the Act.

Regarding the issue, All Assam Issue Date Victims Upper Primary School Teachers' Association has expressed strong reaction and vehement resentment over their schools being deprived of getting provincialized and their jobs getting regularized. In this context, president of the organization, Ashok Chetri, secretaries Mahajyoti Sarmah and Fajarul Haque said that the victim teachers had received no effective solution to their problems though they had requested the then Education Minister and present Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to bring the 'Issue Date Victim Schools' under the process of provincialization.

"Though the present Chief Minister-cum-former Education Minister declared in the teachers appointment letter distribution ceremony held in Guwahati on February 5 of the current year that the Issue Date Victim Schools would be provincialized by bringing them within the ambit of the Act concerned before the issue of Assam Assembly Election Notification, the issue has still not been resolved, due to which many victim teachers among us are going to retire soon without getting a penny in the name of salary for their relentless and dedicated services," the president and the secretaries of the organization asserted.

Under such circumstances, the organization requested Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Education Minister Dr. Ranoj Kumar Pegu to provincialize their schools and to resolve the multi-faceted problems of the victim teachers at the earliest on humanitarian ground.

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