Around 10,323 Tripura government teachers continued their uninterrupted 48-hours demonstration on Sunday
A section of around 10,323 Tripura government teachers, facing termination of jobs due to court orders, continued their uninterrupted 48-hours demonstration on Sunday demanding alternative arrangements to keep their jobs, a leader of the teacher's body said. Leader of the agitating teachers Bimal Saha and other teachers told the media on Sunday that they would intensify their agitations if the state's BJP-led government does not take steps to protect their jobs.
Mr Saha, who is the President of the 'All Tripura 10,323 Ad-hoc Teachers' Association' told the media that so far 50 teachers had "died or committed suicide".
He said the state government should provide a job to the family members of those 50 teachers who have died.
The teachers said the BJP leaders before the 2018 assembly elections had promised in their 'Vision Document' and electoral campaigns to protect the jobs of the government teachers.
Over 10,323 government teachers with graduate, post-graduate and under-graduate educational qualifications were inducted into the Tripura government schools in different phases since 2010 when the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front government was in power.
The recruitment of these teachers subsequently went to litigation and the Tripura High Court in 2014 terminated all the 10,323 teachers, saying the selection criterion contained "discrepancies".
Thereafter, Special Leave Petitions were filed in the Supreme Court by the then Left Front government and a section of teachers. But the apex court upheld the High Court verdict on March 29, 2017.
Following an appeal by the previous Left Front government, the apex court extended their services up to June last year.
After coming to power in March last year, the BJP-led government had filed a fresh appeal in the Supreme Court and the apex court had granted them one-time final extension of their services till March 2020.
An official of the Education Department said though several teachers have been absorbed in other government positions and through separate recruitment processes, including Teachers Eligibility Tests (TET), most of them are facing job losses.
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