Thousands of ‘shiksha mitras’ (ad hoc teachers) from Uttar Pradesh sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday to protest against the State government’s decision fixing their honorarium at ₹10,000 a month.
The teachers are hoping to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and have said that they will continue the protest until their demands for better pay and appointment as assistant teachers are met.
Thousands of people were trained as government teachers through a Basic Training Certificate course during the tenure of the Samajwadi Party government.
The two-year full-time course is recognised by the National Council for Teacher Education.
Order quashed
The shiksha mitras were appointed on a contractual basis to assist primary school teachers in rural and urban areas for ₹2,250, but were upgraded to a payscale of ₹39,000. Around 1.37 lakh of them were promoted as permanent employees in 2014 by the State government.
This order was, however, quashed by the Allahabad High Court in September 2015. After the Supreme Court upheld the HC verdict, the teachers launched a massive agitation.
“Due to confusion created by change of government, we are suffering. If they have to change the programs, give us additional training but at least don’t gulp our salary,” said Santosh Mishra, State treasurer of the Adarsh Samyojit Sikshak Welfare Association.
The recent order, which fixed a stipend of ₹10,000, also stated that the ad hoc teachers would have to pass the Teacher Eligibility Test to be eligible to become full-time teachers.
