The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) will take a decision regarding the regularisation of services of the 65,000 odd para teachers – ad hoc teachers appointed under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) – and the Government will work in accordance with the ARC’s recommendation, Chief Minister Hemant Soren said during the Budget Session of Assembly on Thursday.
Replying to a question raised by AJSU Party legislator Sudesh Mahto about the Government’s future course of action in regularising the services of para teachers and regulating their recruitment, Soren said, “The Administrative Reforms Commission has been constituted, and it will take a decision regarding the regularization of services of the para teachers. The Government will work accordingly.”
During the Assembly proceedings, School Education and Literacy Minister Jagarnath Mahto said that the current Government will not use batons to silence the voice of para teachers – a jibe at the former Raghubar Das-led Government, which handled the para teachers’ stir with an iron fist. “We will not lathi-charge our para teachers; neither will we lock them up in jails. This Government is taking the matter seriously, and it will take concrete steps for addressing their issues,” he said.
Sudesh Mahto, however, did not seem satisfied with the answers. He said that the Government was not offering any concrete solution to the problems of para teachers, and only passing politically-correct remarks. “I was expecting a more straightforward answer to my question. Politically-correct answers will dilute the gravity of the matter,” he said.
Para teachers impart education to students in rural and semi-urban areas of the tribal state. Some of the schools, hardly a few kilometers from the State capital’s periphery are run by para teachers alone. These teachers often complain of irregularities in payment of their monthly honorarium, which is around Rs.10,000 for most of them.
Para teachers have been up n arms against the Government since years demanding better pay and regularization of services.
The latest in the series of protests by the teachers was a strike from November 16, 2018 to January17, 2019. On January 17, a delegation of the teachers met representatives of the Government and decided to end their strike after they were assured a pay hike of Rs 4,800 and set rules for regularization of their services, the teachers said.
Education Minister Jagarnath Mahto had earlier said that the Government will consider withdrawing the cases leveled against protesting para teachers during the former Raghubar Das-led Govt. On Thursday, he said that the State needs teachers and the Government knows how to treat them with respect.