The Uttarakhand High Court (HC) decision to the stay the process of re-appointments of guest teachers has jolted thousands of guest teachers across the State. These teachers were eagerly awaiting their appointment letters after the State Government issued a Government Order (GO) for their reinstatement in the schools.
The HC bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia while hearing the petition of Rishikesh resident Alok Parmar and Nainital resident Mamta Pant issued the stay on Thursday. The petitioners said that the Government is not appointing permanent teachers on the vacant posts and extending the services of temporary teachers.
They also objected on the Government deciding to abolish the block cadre of guest teachers. The court said that earlier the education department had recruited guest teachers on the condition that their appointment would be temporary and now these teachers are being reappointed. The court has given a time period of three weeks to the state government to file its reply.
When contacted the Vice President of the association of Government school guest teachers, Harish Arya said that thousands of guest teachers are surprised at the decision. “The association has decided to convene a meeting of its office bearers in which future course of action would be taken. We can also approach the court to clarify our position,’’ he said.
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 years. These teachers were appointed for a period of 89 days or end of the session and were paid on the basis of the lecturers delivered by them.
On March 31 this year the department terminated their contract following which these teachers started an agitation. Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani even sat on a hunger strike in support of the agitating guest teachers during the President’s rule. When the Congress Government was restored in the State, it passed a GO for reinstatement of these teachers.