The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has begun a yatra from Dandi to Ahmedabad to protest the recruitment of assistant teachers on fixed pay basis for the government and grants-in-aid schools in Gujarat. This follows a sit-in organised by the Congress, which is the principal Opposition party in the State.
“The AAP is undertaking a foot march under the banner of Yuva Adhikar Yatra from October 13 to 20 with the party expecting the State’s youth to join the agitation in large numbers,” Gujarat AAP leader Yuvrajsinh Jadeja said.
“Be it the issue of recruitment or malpractices in competitive examinations, the AAP has been raising such matters before the government. One of the most pressing issues pertains to Gyan Sahayak, or contractual teachers, who are to be recruited on a fixed pay basis,” Mr. Jadeja told reporters.
The teachers unions, as well as the Congress and the AAP, have been opposing the new recruitment policy of the State government to fill in vacancies by hiring assistant teachers on fixed pay basis.
According to the State government data, over 35,000 candidates have applied for the recruitment of Gyan Sahayaks in primary schools and secondary schools. The last date of applying was September 17.
Cong. sit-in held on Oct. 6
“It is an exploitative scheme. Why is the government not hiring teachers for a full-time job through regular recruitment process?” asked Congress leader Amit Chavda, who presided over the sit-in held in the State capital on October 6.
He charged the government with “commercialisation of education in the State” and said the move by the State government shows that education of children is not a priority for the BJP government.
Besides the Opposition parties, even a few Bharatiya Janata Party legislators have raised their voice against this policy.
In the last one month, several rallies and protests have been staged at the district level to oppose the Gyan Sahayak policy, and have demanded full-time teaching jobs instead.
Last month, the State Congress president, Shaktisinh Gohil, also raised the topic and asked Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel to not go ahead with recruiting teachers through such an “exploitative and unconstitutional” scheme.
“This is not the way to recruit teachers for government schools. The government has a responsibility to provide good quality education in the schools which will ensure a bright future for the State. The system of contract-based appointment of teachers is unconstitutional and financially exploitative,” Mr. Gohil said in his letter to the Chief Minister.
In Gujarat, the State-run schools and grant-in-aid schools have large number of vacancies as the State has not recruited teachers in the last four years.
In the State Assembly in March this year, the government provided details of vacancies, which stated more than 32,000 posts of teachers and principals are vacant in government and grants-in-aid schools and 906 such schools have just one teacher.
State Education Minister Kuber Dindor, in response to questions from Congress MLAs, had told the Assembly that 29,122 posts of teachers and 3,552 posts of principals were vacant at government-run and grant-in-aid schools in the State as of December 2022.
The details tabled by the State Education Department in the Assembly revealed that of the 32,674 vacant posts, 20,678 were in government schools, while 11,996 were in grants-in-aid schools. Over 17,500 posts of teachers were vacant in government primary schools as well.
