The agitated guest teachers have threatened to undertake a fast unto death if the State Government fails to pay heed their demand. Ten members of the association of government school guest teachers are sitting on a 48 hour long fast at agitation site near parade ground from Wednesday. These guest teachers are Ashok Kumar, Sanjay Kohli, Mahendra Kishore, Ajay Kumar, Krishna Tripathi, Satya Prakash, Chandra Dev Chauhan, Vandna, Sushila Rawat and Jagdish Tiwari.
The state president of the association lalit Dangwal told The Pioneer that if the state government fails to take any decision on the demands of the guest teachers then the association would be forced to take the step of starting a fast unto death. He said that the guest teachers are frustrated over the manner in which the state government is treating them.
To provide immediate relief to the students the education department had deployed 6214 guest teachers on contract of one year in the government schools last year. After end of the contract period on March 31, these teachers started an agitation following which the state government assured them that their services would be extended for another year. Meanwhile President’s rule was imposed in the state during which these teachers undertook a massive agitation. Chief Minister Harish Rawat and education minister Mantri Prasad Naithani – who were out of the office at the time- made it a point to attend the agitation to express their solidarity with guest teachers. 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 however said that the government can appointment these teachers till March 17 only. This adverse order of court infuriated the guest teachers who now want the government to find some solution so that their services are extended beyond March 2017.