Chandigarh, November 2: Amid PROTEST by the regular and contractual teachers of Punjab government schools since October 7, Education Minister O P Soni termed the agitation ‘uncalled for’. Teachers, under the banner of Sanjha Adhiyapak Morcha, are protesting against the regularisation of 8,886 contractual teachers of Sarv Siksha Abhiyaan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyaan (RMSA), due to which they will get a salary of Rs 15,000 per month, the entry-level pay, instead of their present salary of Rs 42,800. Most teachers are on contract for the past 10 years. The minister spoke to The Indian Express, justifying the government decisions.
Teachers across the state, especially in the Chief Minister’s home town Patiala, are sitting on dharna since October 7.
Our talks with the teachers are going on and a number of them have gone back to their schools, rather than sitting on dharna. Their fast unto death has also been withdrawn. We took a historic decision by taking 8,886 SSA/RMSA teachers on regular government rolls as they had been demanding it for long. They should be thankful to us for this decision, rather than protesting. Gradually this protest will fizzle out. Already numbers at dharnas are reducing with each passing day. In addition to this, 2,000 teachers have joined work, a few union leaders are not letting the others to join.
The SSA and RMSA are the societies introduced by the Centre, under which 60 per cent of the salary is being funded by the Union government and rest by the state. However, now the Centre has told us that they will pay a lump sum of Rs 15,000 per teacher per month only. Hence it is a huge financial burden on us to contribute the rest. Still, we are not forcing all to join on regular rolls. It is their choice to remain contractual or on regular rolls. After two-and-a-half years, when the probation period will end, the state government will have an additional burden of Rs 400 crore in form of perks to these teachers and we are ready to bear it, however, they also need to get serious and give quality education.
We started with cordial talks and appeals, however, strict action needs to be taken if one flouts rules . Our primary aim is to make teachers available in schools and disciplinary action needs to be taken, if they are not teaching.
Source Indian Express
