The eleven-day long agitation and hunger-strike by the association of guest teachers ended on Wednesday. The guest teachers after prolonged discussions in wake of Government Order (GO) issued on Monday and assurance by the Director General (DG) of school education, D Senthil Pandian decided to call off their agitation and accompanying hunger strike by 13 of their mates on the day.
Former Education Minister, Mantri Prasad Naithani offered juice to the guest teachers who were sitting on a hunger strike to end their protest.
Addressing a large gathering on the occasion, Naithani said that the decision to remove guest teachers was not proper. He said that the agitation by the association yielded positive result due to which the government was forced to issue a GO for reinstatement of guest teachers.
Speaking to The Pioneer at the protest site, the Vice President of the association, Harish Arya said that the guest teachers have decided to have faith in the assurance given by the DG and suspend the agitation.
He, however, added that the association has vowed to restart the agitation on a much larger scale from May 15 if the assurance of DG is not kept by the department.
The DG reportedly asked the agitating teachers to wait till May 15 as by then the number of vacant posts in the schools would be clear as the process of appointments and promotions of teachers is currently going on. The association of guest teachers claimed that DG assured them that all the 6,214 candidates would be reinstated.
Bowing to the pressure of the agitating guest teachers the education department issued a GO on Monday in which orders for cancellation of advertisement released on April 11 for appointing new guest teachers was given.
This has paved the way for reappointment of the guest teachers (recruited last year) whose services were terminated on March 31.