The primary teachers of Government schools locked their schools and held a massive demonstration in support of their demands at Parade Ground on Tuesday. Probably perturbed by the massive show of strength by the teachers, the Chief Minister Harish Rawat made an unscheduled appearance and addressed them. Speaking on the occasion, Rawat said that the demands of the teachers would be sympathetically looked into and he would not allow any financial loss tho the teachers. He assured that the demands concerning the education department would be solved within a period of seven days while the demands involving finance would also be soon solved. Rawat assured that the government would not allow loss of 4000 posts of primary education to happen.
Following the assurance of Chief Minister, the Prathemik Shikshak Sangh (PSS) suspended its agitation and withdrew plan to March towards the state secretariat. The PSS however added that it has given a time of 15 days to the state government to fulfill its demand failing which the agitation would be resumed.
The parade ground of the city was centre of intense activity from Tuesday morning as on the call given by the PSS, thousands of primary teachers from all parts of the state descended there. The massive strength of teachers which many of the independent observers opine was biggest in recent times in any employee agitation emboldened the leaders of PSS and they launched a virulent attack on the state government for ignoring the demands of the teachers.
The President of the PSS, Nirmala Mahar said that primary teachers have got nothing but assurances in last two and half years and they are now an agitated lot. She said that PSS is now determined to carry its agitation for its 17 point demands to a logical end. The general secretary of organisation Digvijay Singh said that teachers are forced to hit the streets due to continued apathy of the state government. He said that the government had promised to release the GO fulfilling the demands of the primary teachers till September 15 but here too the teachers were cheated. The patron of the PSS, Prem Singh Gusain explained the demands and justified them with facts. He said that if the demands of the primary teachers are not accepted then the teachers are free to take any step.
The PSS is demanding that the upgraded primary schools should run separately and a minimum salary of Rs 17140 should be fixed for the teachers working on grade pay of Rs 4600. It is of the view that the primary teachers should be appointed on the posts of BRP and CRP.
The PSS is also demanding that post of Director General (DG) should be shelved and practice of suspension of teachers without seeking explanations during inspections should be stopped. Its other demand is that the primary teachers should receive an entry level salary of `16,290.
The PSS is also demanding that the irregularities in categorization of schools should be removed and the teachers serving in inaccessible schools should be given additional monetary benefit.