To press the State Government regarding their respective demands on the fifth day of the Vidhan Sabha, several organisations like Uttarakhand Trained BPEd and MPEd Youth Union and Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) qualified unemployed youths rallied to the Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday.
The protesters assembled at the Parade Ground and marched towards the Vidhan Sabha, shouting slogans against the alleged apathy of the State Government regarding their long-pending demands. However, the agitators were stopped at the police barricade at Rispana and a mild lathi charge was resorted to. Police arrested 84 of BPEd and MPEd youths and later they were released at Police lines.
Meanwhile, anticipating a spate of rallies being taken to the Vidhan Sabha, the administration had put into place elaborate security arrangements. Adequate police personnel were deployed at the barricade to maintain law and order.
With the agitators being determined to cross the barricade, altercations ensued between them and the cops. Police charged batons to disperse them as the protestors. later, stopped, they sat on demonstration at the barricade. The leaders of the agitating bodies addressed the gatherings during which they slammed the State Government for its indifference to their grievances.
Scores of members of Federation of Bachelor of Education (BEd)/ Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) Qualified Unemployed Youths rallied to the police barricade at Rispana while shouting slogans.
later, president of the federation Manveer Rawat said that despite several assurances given by the State Government officials, their demands have remained un-addressed. He said that there are over 30,000 BEd/ TET qualified candidates in the State who have been anxiously waiting for the State government to increase the number of the posts.
“The education department has recently advertised 1200 posts of primary teachers, but we are demanding the Government to raise the number of vacancies. This is because these candidates would be rendered ineligible for being employed as primary teachers after March 31 as the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) has clearly ordered that only Diploma in Elementary Education (DElEd) qualified candidates would be eligible to teach in the primary schools after March 31, 2016. We are much worried,” he said.
Besides, scores of Uttarakhand Trained BPEd and MPEd Youth Union activists rallied and rapped the State Government for sleeping on their demands. They further said the State Government has been acting dictatorially to suppress their agitation.
The association president Sunder Singh Dhoni said that they have been protesting for the past few years in support of one-point demand- appointment of trained BPEd and MPEd youths as physical education instructors in the Government-run schools. “Several posts of physical education teachers keep lying vacant for the past many years, but the State Government has not started recruitment process to fill them up,” he added.