Ranchi, Dec. 11: With chief minister Arjun Munda running to woo the IT and steel sectors, education seems to have taken a backseat.
Around 4,000 unemployed-trained primary teachers have threatened to go for self-immolation, if the state government fails to fulfil their demands.
They have alleged that the state government has appointed untrained teachers and failed to provide jobs to them. As a result, unemployed-trained teachers have resorted to other professions to earn a living.
These facts came to the fore during a meeting of unemployed trained primary teachers held at district superintendent of education (DSE) office today. More than 150 unemployed trained primary teachers from 22 districts had assembled to discuss their problems.
Raquib Alam, a teacher, said he is a qualified BEd teacher and underwent training in 1989. ?I run my family by driving auto-rickshaw. Initially, I was sitting idle with the hope that the government would soon regularise our services. But how long can someone wait? We have to run our families,? he rued.
Another unemployed trained teacher Jyoti Kumari said the government has failed to appoint primary teachers since 1991. ?During the tenure of then chief minister Babulal Marandi all those teachers who had not been appointed in the government schools had to sit for the exams. But after Arjun Munda government came into power, he took out the vacancies for the appointment of teachers from other states. As a result, the candidates from other states have got an appointment while trained teachers are sitting idle,? she added.
Jharkhand Public Service Commission had taken out two lists for the appointment of teachers this year but the name of the trained teachers did not figure there. ?Most of the teachers who got an appointment are already teaching at high schools,? said another teacher, Sipra Kumari.
Sources said the unemployed teachers visited state human resource development minister Pradeep Yadav to look into the matter and the minister had given all the assurance for an early appointment.
