The assurance given by Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni to a delegation of the Prathemik Shikshak Sangh (PSS) has rekindled hopes of thousands of Special Basic Teacher Training ( BTC) qualified primary teachers of the State. Fate of these teachers hangs in balance as after March 2019, they would become ineligible to teach primary students.
On Monday, a delegation of PSS led by its president Digvijay Singh met Baluni at his residence in New Delhi and explained the situation due to which the jobs of more than 17000 teachers are in jeopardy to him. Singh said that Baluni has heard out the problem attentively and assured that he would take up the matter with the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar.
The assurance from Baluni seemed to have soothed the frayed nerves of special BTC qualified primary school teachers. “Given the track record of Baluni and the clout he has in Delhi, we are hopeful that the issue would be resolved soon. We are being made to suffer due to the negligence of the education department officials,’’ said a primary teacher posted in Duggada block of Pauri district.
The issue
There are more than 17000 serving teachers in Uttarakhand who are Special BTC (referred as Vishisht BTC teachers). These teachers are Bachelor of Education (BEd) qualified but to make them eligible to teach in the primary classes, the education department imparted them an in- service training of special BTC in different District Institutes of Teachers Training (DIET) from the year 2001 to 2016. After this training, they were appointed in the primary teacher cadre of the State Education Department.
Last year, these teachers were shocked when they learnt that the all-important recognition from the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) had not been taken by the education department of Uttarakhand for special BTC.
After the issue came to fore, the department pleaded that NCTE should grant recognition in retrospection. This request was not accepted by the apex body of teacher education.
As per the new guidelines of the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, the Diploma in Elementary Education (DElEd) qualified candidates alone are eligible to teach the primary students. It has made it clear that after March 2019, all the primary teachers who do not have a DElEd degree or BTC certificate would be removed from primary teaching.
The BEd qualified candidates who are teaching primary classes were given an option to register for a six months bridge course offered by the NIOS.
The teachers, however, objected to it and most of them have not cared to register themselves for the bridge course.