Stepping up the ante against the BJP-led Haryana Government, the protesting State guest teachers are all set to take to the streets of Bihar, where the BJP is set for a battle against the united Janata Parivar in Assembly polls likely to be held later this year.Pressing for regularisation of their jobs, Haryana Guest Teachers’ Association (HGTA) has now decided to build pressure on the State Government by joining hands with guest teachers associations in Bihar, with an aim to stop BJP from coming to power in the State.More than 2.5 lakh contractual school teachers in Bihar have been demanding pay parity with permanent teachers while 15,993 guest teachers under the banner of HGTA are demanding regularisation of their jobs in Haryana.“The HGTA has decided to campaign against BJP in Bihar and urged more than 2.5 lakh contractual teachers there not to vote for BJP in the upcoming assembly polls, said Dharambir Kaushik, spokesperson of Haryana Guest Teachers’ Association while talking to The Pioneer over the phone from Karnal district.
He said that more than 2.5 lakh contractual school teachers in Bihar have been demanding pay parity with permanent teachers and this is also a key election issue in that state. Ahead of elections, BJP has made the promise to Bihar contractual schools teachers to fulfill their demands… The same promise was made to us but after coming to the power, BJP has gone back to its poll promises, alleged he.
A meeting of HGTA with Bihar contractual teachers is likely to be held to discuss the issue and decide the future course of action, added Dharambir.
Apart from this, the guest teachers began ‘Pol Khol Abhiyan’ from Saturday against state Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma in his home town Mahendragarh. The HGTA has got printed more than 10,000 pamphlets, apprising about assurance letter written by Sharma to the guest teachers before Assembly polls and BJP’s poll promises of regularising jobs of guest teachers in the State. Besides, a video has been prepared showing the meeting of Ram Bilas Sharma with guest teachers at Jantar Mantar in February last year, where the former had promised that BJP would regularise their services after coming to power.
“The HGTA has constituted ten teams which would carry door to door campaign in Mahendragarh and distribute pamphlets apprising about the double face of BJP. A vehicle equipped with lCD screen would display the video of Ram Bilas Sharma’s meeting with HGTA and assurances given to us. With this campaign, the HGTA wants to expose BJP’s lies,” said Dharambir Kaushik. The guest teachers have also announced to go on a fast-unto-death from June 23 in Mahendragarh, if their demands are not fulfilled.Haryana Government has failed to address our problems… Instead, more than 4000 guest teachers were sacked by the Government… The HGTA would continue their protest against the BJP across the State, added he.
Two days back, thousands of guest teachers whose services were dispensed had launched an indefinite agitation in Mahendragarh.Demanding regularisation of their jobs, the guest teachers in Haryana has been resorting to all kinds of pressure tactics lately and had last month announced going for ‘religion change’, if their demands are not met.From writing letters with blood to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to intervene in the matter, to shaving their heads, the guest teachers are going beyond the traditional acts of protest and have been adopting various methods to draw attention towards their issues.More than 15,000 guest teachers were appointed by the then Congress government in 2005 to tackle the shortage of staff in government schools. In 2014 also, the guest teachers sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar for two weeks during the Congress regime seeking regularisation of their services.