Striking a defiant note the association of Government guest teachers of Uttarakhand is continuing with its agitation. After the directive of Uttarakhand High Court (HC) the State Education Department has asked these teachers to return to work or face action. The order appears to have no effect on the agitating guest teachers who are adamant to continue with their protest. However the association took back their march to secretariat call on Monday. The Vice President of the association Harish Arya said that the call was withdrawn as the association is expecting some positive decision in the cabinet meeting slated later in the day.
The education department had employed 6214 guest teachers on purely temporary basis against the vacant posts of lecturers and lecturer Teachers (lT) in the government schools last year. On March 31 this year the department terminated their contract following which these teachers started an agitation. When the Congress Government was restored in the State following President’s rule, the first thing it did was to release a Government Order (GO) for reinstatement of these teachers. This GO was contested in the court which rendered the entire process of recruitment of guest teachers as unconstitutional. The court allowed these teachers to function till March 31, 2017.
The association is now demanding that their services should be extended beyond March 31, 2017 when the term of their contract expires.