Visually challenged students demand their quota of recruitment for the posts of siksha sahayaks. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 28: With the school and mass education department going for a large-scale recruitment of 26,000 siksha sahayaks in all 30 districts of the state, a delegation of visually-challenged students today met the department secretary Aparajita Sarangi, to press for their reservation rights.

The students, under the banner of All-Orissa Students’ Union of the Visually Impaired, pressed that unemployed educated youths with visual disability interested for the teaching posts should not be denied their due reservation of one per cent.

The students also demanded that adequate rectification must be ensured in the various advertisements published for the recruitment drive by specifying the exact number of posts reserved for the visually challenged. “There are several interested candidates from various districts of the state, but without the reservation, it will be very difficult for them to get the post,” said president of the association Gadadhar Ojha.

Earlier, in 2006, the high court had directed the department to issue instructions in favour of all the district collectors for recruitment of blind persons as siksha sahayaks in their prescribed reserved vacancies. Accordingly, the then joint secretary of the department, Trilochan Pati, had issued instructions to appoint untrained blind persons as siksha sahayaks and to provide them with in-service training within three years of their appointment. Accordingly, hundreds of blind persons were appointed as siksha sahayaks. However, the department has again repeated the same mistake by not mentioning the reservation for the disabled in the recently released advertisements.

“We warn the government to rectify the mistake and bring out fresh advertisements in the next 48 hours. Otherwise, we will be forced to burn effigies of minister Pratap Jena and Aparajita Sarangi, along with the advertisements published in newspapers for harassing the visually-impaired community at large,” said association secretary, Lekharam Bhoi.

The students also demanded filling up of the vacancies in the previous siksha sahayak recruitments. The five-member team of delegates discussed the issue with Aparajita Sarangi who assured them that she would take action.

The students demanded that there should be relaxation for the people with disablities as most of them are untrained and do not have a teacher’s training degree.

Officials in the department informed that the demands made will be considered and there will be an inquiry into the allegations. “In-service training will be imparted for untrained recruits. The state has already asked the Centre to give benefits to untrained teachers for the next five years for the implementation of the Right to Education Act.”