Guwahati: The All Assam Primary TET Uttirna Sikshak Samaj on Tuesday launched the massive ‘Dispur Chalo’ agitation at Khanapara Veterinary Ground in Guwahati today pleading the Assam State Government to fulfill their demands.
The TET teachers claimed that as per the 2016 State Assembly Election Manifesto, the Government of Assam-led by BJP had earlier promised to regularize of the contracts of TET qualified teachers, however, in the past three years there has been no such development.
The TET qualified teachers also informed that earlier several memorandums were submitted to the Chief Minister and the State Education Minister urging for the regularization of their jobs, but the Government failed to pay heed to the matter.
Also, the recent comparison of TET qualification with a driving license by the Education Minister at a Radio show also hurt the sentiments’ of the TET-qualified teachers. Later, Many TET-qualified teachers, offended by Bhattacharya’s comparison, have started using the prefix “driver” in their user names on social media (similar to the ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’ campaign by the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha election).
Around 41,000 TET-qualified teachers were appointed in contractual posts under the Sarba Sikhsa Abhijan Mission, Assam. While some of them got regular appointments, a majority of them are yet to get regular appointments creating job insecurity among the teachers.
Earlier, around 500 plus TET-qualified gheraoed District Kamrup Deputy Commissioner’s office in Guwahati demanding regularisation of their contractual jobs.
Meanwhile, one of the protesters urged before the Education Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya and Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal to make provisions for the regularization of their jobs and further threatened to continue the agitation until their demands get fulfilled.
It is to be noted that the TET examination was first held in the year 2012 by the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government for appointing teachers to lower and upper primary schools. As many as 52, 772 candidates had cleared the eligibility test.
Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, the present Health and Finance Minister of Assam, was in charge of the education portfolio back then. Later, he joined the BJP party in the year 2015.