Assam State Primary Teachers' Association (ASPTA) reiterates demands, says ball in CM's court

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Assam State Primary Teachers' Association (ASPTA) said that it had sent an adequate number of memorandums to the Chief Minister on their various demands. The association said that 'now the ball is in the Chief Minister's court' to fulfil their demands. The association, however, said that 'if the Chief Minister does not meet their demands by December 31, 2022, they will resort to boycotting the Gunotsav scheduled from January 18-February 18, 2023.

ASPTA secretary general Ratul Chandra Goswami said, "Our demands are the creation of posts of headmasters in primary schools, payment of the cancelled grade pay, regular paying of the dues of contractual teachers, besides regularization of their jobs. We let the government know our demands several times but to no avail. It is despite assurances after holdings various rounds of talks. We discussed our issues at the last executive committee meeting on November 13, 2022. We decided at the meeting that if the government does not fulfil our demands by December 31, 2022, we will boycott the Gunotsav of 2023. We have sent several memorandums to the Chief Minister on our demands. Now the ball is in the Chief Minister's court."

According to Goswami, the appointment of headmasters in primary schools is not happening following a tug-of-war between the Education and Finance departments. "The Finance Department continues to send back the Education department's decision of appointing headmaster in primary schools on various pretexts. Teachers have been bearing the brunt of the tussle between the two departments of the same government," he said.

On grade pay, Goswami said, "At advertisements for appointment of primary teachers, the government seeks applications from graduate candidates. According to the Pay Commission, all graduate teachers should get their grade pay. However, the government does not follow this rule in the case of primary school teachers."

He said, "The government is appointing contractual teachers only. The government is abolishing regular posts. We demand the regularization of the posts of contractual teachers. We have held around forty rounds of discussions at various levels with the government to sort out this problem. Miffed at the lackadaisical attitude of the government on this issue, the primary school teachers have decided to lock out their schools during the days of Gunotsav in 2023. Three other teacher organizations – All Boro Primary Teachers' Association, All Assam Primary TET-qualified Teachers' Association and All Assam State Pool Teachers' Association – have extended their support to our school lockout programme."

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