The Police today had to use tear gas to disperse a group of teachers who were trying to march towards the Jammu and Kashmir Secretariat in Srinagar.
The Police today resorted to lathicharge and used tear smoke shells to disperse a group of teachers who were trying to march towards the Jammu and Kashmir Secretariat in Srinagar. They were protesting against the government's decision to hold a test for Rehbaar-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers and threatened to go on strike of the government doesn't withdraw its decision.
Nearly 3,000 ReT teachers had assembled at Lal Chowk, the commercial hub of the city. As they started to march towards the secretariat which houses the offices of Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, and his ministers, the police swung into action. They used coloured water and tear gas against the protesting teachers.
The president of the teacher's association, Farooq Ahmad Tantray said, "We are protesting against the dictatorial decision of the government which is bent on insulting us... All ReTs were selected through a transparent process based on merit. All orders for our selection were issued by the director school education in Srinagar and Jammu."
The scheme was started by the previous National Conference government in 2000, which had appointed qualified people as ReT teachers in their respective areas to improve literacy and lower unemployment in the state. There are nearly 65,000 such teachers in the state, who are paid a consolidated monthly salary of Rs 3,000 for five years before they get regularised.
The state government has clarified that they are only following a high court order to scrutinize the degree certificates and screen those teachers who obtained their degrees through distance mode.