Assam | Teachers sit-in protest to press for demands, set Sept 30 as deadline
GUWAHATI | September 19, 2018:
To sort out the grievances of the teachers, September 30 has been set as a deadline for the state government by the teachers who are engaged in educating out-of-school students to enrol in with mainstream schools in Assam.
On Monday, teachers' representative under the banner of Jyoti Kendra Sikshakarmi Santha in support of their demands had launched an indefinite hunger strike in front of the office of Sarba Siksha Abhiyan, Kahilipara.
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In the evening, Basistha police rounded them up and kept in the police station where they continued their hunger strike.
President of the organization, Munna Chetia said, "We withdrew our strike only when the executive director of SSA, Dhrubajyoti Das, met and assured us that they would organise a meeting with education minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya. We have sought a solution to our problems by September 30. Otherwise, we will re-launch our protest".
Chetia said there are 960 teachers in Assam toiling to bring back out-of-school children between six and 14 years to mainstream schools by educating them in 660 special teaching centres. They work on contract and are paid Rs 5,500 a month. She said teachers in many districts have not received their salaries for nearly four months.
These teachers started teaching in 2003 at Hard-to-Reach Centres assisted by Unicef. When SSA came into existence, these centres were renamed Jyoti Kendras. With the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 these Jyoti Kendras were converted into special training centres.
The teachers have been demanding gratuity, medical facility, provident funds and pension like other government employees.
Source: The Telegraph
